Supreme Court downplays report that Justice Gorsuch wouldn’t wear COVID mask to protect Justice Sotomayor’s health
Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch are both seeking to downplay a report that they are feuding over Gorsuch’s refusal to wear a face mask to protect against COVID-19.
In a murky, vaguely worded joint statement, the two justices branded as “false” the report that Sotomayor felt forced to stay away from in-person court sessions because Gorsuch wouldn’t mask up like his other colleagues.
Sotomayor has diabetes and other health woes that make her particularly vulnerable to a serious case of COVID, and sits next to Gorsuch on the bench, exacerbating reported concerns about potential infection.
“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false,” the two jurists said in the statement issued by the court. “While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”
Amid more questions about the semi-denial, Chief Justice John Roberts later also issued a statement claiming that he never asked Gorsuch or any other justice to wear a mask to avoid potentially spreading COVID-19.
Neither statement actually refuted the main premise of the National Public Radio report that Gorsuch refused to wear a mask to respect Sotomayor’s concerns about her risk of contracting the deadly virus.
The statement also didn’t deny the report’s claim that Sotomayor was effectively boycotting the live sessions and meetings of the court due to Gorsuch’s selfish stance.
There was no immediate response from NPR or Nina Totenberg, the respected court reporter who broke the story Tuesday. She framed the dispute as an important sign of growing discord on the top court.
Gorsuch refuses to mask up to protect Sotomayor; Alito still thinks he should have been CJ; the libs are beside themselves; & the conservative fissures are showing amid competition to succeed Scalia. Altogether, not a happy group at #SCOTUS. https://t.co/cx1ToTbHuQ
— Nina Totenberg (@NinaTotenberg) January 18, 2022
The liberal justice has not shown up for recent court arguments and other in-person meetings at which Gorsuch was the only one of the nine justices who did not wear a mask.
