When the Supreme Court resumed in-person arguments earlier this month after breaking for the holidays, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was notably not present. Instead, she was participating remotely from her chambers. And apparently, that’s because of Neil Gorsuch.
Last fall, as COVID-19 cases declined and all the justices presumably received their vaccinations and boosters, most of the Supreme Court justices stopped wearing masks. Sotomayor still masked up, though, as she’s at higher risk of serious illness due to having type 1 diabetes. Since the court is resuming right in the middle of the incredibly impactful omicron variant surge, the justices are back to wearing masks—except for Gorsuch.
NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports that “according to court sources, Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked. Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up.”
“They all did,” says Totenberg. “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.”
You have to be a pretty huge jerk to actively refuse to consider the safety of your immunocompromised coworker, especially when they are making a direct and very simple request for you to do so. (Plus, five of his fellow justices are over 65, with the oldest being 82. Wear a mask around 82-year-olds in general!)
But Gorsuch is that huge of a jerk, as NPR notes that he’s “not exactly beloved even by his conservative soulmates on the court.”
I wrote this back in 2017…..Gorsuch changed Court norms forever so the fact that he’s acting like a spoiled brat with his colleagues is no surprise https://t.co/VnllIZoi1o https://t.co/iDx8RIPRKX
— Jessica Mason Pieklo (@Hegemommy) January 18, 2022
Gorsuch’s refusal to show his colleague basic respect is abhorrent and it’s infuriating that because of his selfishness, Sotomayor is the one who has to work around his demands.
Chief Justice Roberts could’ve put the onus on Justice Gorsuch to participate remotely after he refused the reasonable request, a safer result for everyone in the courtroom, but Roberts decided to let the burden fall on Justice Sotomayor instead. https://t.co/ZZ6t5Hblik
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 18, 2022
Shouldn’t Gorsuch be the one removed? https://t.co/Y8dIud22fx
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) January 18, 2022
That Justice Sotomayor is choosing to participate in #SCOTUS arguments remotely because Justice Gorsuch (and *only* Justice Gorsuch) refuses to wear a mask on the bench is such a perfect microcosm of how millions of Americans are experiencing the pandemic—from both perspectives.
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) January 18, 2022
Confirmation of what we all already knew. Whatever you think about masks, Gorsuch, who sits next to Sotomayor at work, just decided to be a dick to a colleague. https://t.co/jxhSzIXMJk
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 18, 2022
That’s an asshole move, Neil https://t.co/izpJs2WPmp
— Jorts (and Jean) (@JortsTheCat) January 18, 2022
(via NPR, image: Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)
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