Sotomayor, Gorsuch dispute NPR report about masking feud in joint statement: ‘It is false’

Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor issued a joint statement Wednesday disputing a recent NPR report as "false" after the liberal media organization claimed the conservative justice refused to wear a mask on the bench despite requests to do so.

"Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends," Gorsuch and Sotomayor said in a joint statement to the media.

NPR’s story by legal affair correspondent Nina Totenberg, "Gorsuch didn't mask despite Sotomayor's COVID worries, leading her to telework," reported Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the justices to wear masks because of the omicron surge since Sotomayor has diabetes.

Totenberg couched her language, writing, "Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up," suggesting he did it at Sotomayor's behest. Totenberg cited "court sources" to report Sotomayor expressed she "did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked" before Roberts made the decision.

"They all did. Except Gorsuch, who, as it happens, sits next to Sotomayor on the bench. His continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices' weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone," Totenberg wrote. "Gorsuch, from the beginning of his tenure, has proved a prickly justice, not exactly beloved even by his conservative soulmates on the court."

NPR’s report, which was published on Tuesday morning,... (Read more)

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