Nina Totenberg (NPR Legal Affairs) gave us yet more reasons to defund government-financed radio station Tuesday with her publication Fake newsIt was alleged that Justice Neil Gorsuch had resisted Chief Justice John Roberts’ and Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s requests to put on a mask because the former is diabetic. But Fox News chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream busted the accusation with her own insider source that says it’s false.
Noting “Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked,” Totenberg suggested her sources told her “Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up.”
“All of them did. They all did, except Gorsuch who is, as it turns out, next to Sotomayor at the bench,” she wrote, going on to argue that he’s the reason Sotomayor was working remotely from her office. “Sotomayor’s refusal to attend the weekly justices conference has meant Sotomayor is no longer able to do so in person. Instead, he joins by phone.”
She then took to hyping gossip to portray Gorsuch as some sort of black sheep in the highest court in the land, irritating everyone around him (click “expand”):
Gorsuch was a conservative justice who has not been loved by any of his court-going soulmates.
In 2017, at the first meeting, he tried to dominate and said repeatedly that complex cases, which involved conflicting provisions, were really quite simple.
It wouldn’t be difficult to follow the simple text of the statute. He kept asking the question. “What am I missing?”
His colleagues both conservative and liberal said that there was a lot.
But, as it turns out, what she was claiming about the supposed masking feud wasn’t true according to Bream’s inside source. “I am told that is not accurate,” she pointedly shot down Totenberg’s claims after giving a fair summary of the report.
According to Bream’s source, “there has been no blanket admonition or request from Chief Justice Roberts that the other Justices begin wearing masks to arguments. The source further stated Justice Sotomayor did not make any such request to Justice Gorsuch.”
Thus, “given that fact, there was also no refusal by Justice Gorsuch.”
Bream ended by noting that all justices are vaccinated and boosted before they gather for argument.
In all, Totenberg’s piece was filled with palace intrigue and her fears of the conservative justices. In the section ominously titled “Conservatives agree on the hot button issues,” she warns “In recent decades, the court has built its legitimacy on a certain degree of moderation … But now ‘the current conservative majority is on the cusp of ending that game’” (quoting Harvard law professor Noah Feldman).
Feldman also gave her the money quote that “The conservatives are playing with fire.”
Below is the transcript. Click “expand to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
January 18, 2022
Eastern, 6:19:32BRET BAIER Was there anything you were able to discover?
SHANNON BREAM : OK. So, NPR published this story, Bret, saying that Justice Sotomayor, who has diabetes and has regularly been wearing a mask on the bench during arguments, expressed that she, quote, “Did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked.”
The story goes on to say, “Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other Justices to mask up.” It then says that Justice Gorsuch who normally sits right next to Sotomayor on the bench has repeatedly refused to do so and that’s forced Justice Sotomayor to operate remotely from her office for arguments and conferences. This is incorrect, I was told.
According to a source from the Supreme Court, there was no request or warning by Chief Justice Roberts for Justices to wear masks when arguing. Further, the source stated that Justice Sotomayor never requested Justice Gorsuch to do so. Justice Gorsuch, according to my understanding, did not refuse.
All Justices have been vaccinated, boosted, and are tested before they take the court for argument. Bret.
BAIER: Here you are. We are ready to go. Shannon, we’ll see you tonight. Thanks.
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