Justices Deny NPR Mask Report

NY Post graphic 1/20/22

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement Wednesday denying a National Public Radio report that claimed he had asked his colleagues to wear masks on the bench in deference to fellow Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The statement by Roberts constituted a rare rebuke of reporting by veteran NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, whose Tuesday story stated that Justice Neil Gorsuch’s refusal of Roberts’ purported request had forced Sotomayor to take part in oral arguments remotely.

“I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench,” said Roberts in the statement issued by the court’s press office.

According to Totenberg’s story, Sotomayor — who is diabetic — “did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked” amid the surge in infections caused by the Omicron variant.

“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us,” the statement read. “It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends​.”

Totenberg went on to describe Gorsuch, who was nominated to the high court by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2017, as a “prickly justice, not exactly beloved even by his conservative soulmates on the court.”

NPR said Wednesday that it “stands by” Totenberg’s initial story.

Fox News anchor and chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream challenged the NPR report Tuesday on “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

“I am told that is not accurate,” Bream said. “A source at the Supreme Court says there have 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,” she added. “I’m told, given that fact, there was also no refusal by Justice Gorsuch​.”

Bream noted that all nine justices have been vaccinated and boosted, and are subject to regular COVID-19 testing.

Sotomayor was criticized earlier this month for making a series of incorrect claims during arguments challenging the Biden administration’s vaccinate-or-test rule for large companies. At one point, the Bronx-born jurist wrongly stated that “Omicron is as deadly as Delta,” as well as that “100,000 children” were in “serious condition” due to COVID-19.