Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s refusal to wear a mask at in-person proceedings—forcing his colleague and liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor to take part remotely due to health concerns—sparked backlash Tuesday, especially given the court’s current attack on women’s reproductive health.
According to new reporting by NPR, the refusal by Gorsuch—who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and sits next to Sotomayor on the bench—is despite Chief Justice John Roberts having asked the justices to wear masks in light of the specific vulnerability of Sotomayor, who has diabetes, to Covid-19.
The CDC says having diabetes can make a person more likely to get severely ill from Covid-19, and Sotomayor has been wearing a mask at in-person proceedings since last fall.
Amid the surge in Omicron cases, according to NPR, “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.”
Gorsuch was the sole justice not to comply, the reporting continued, which led to Sotomayor attending the justices’ weekly conference by telephone.
“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,” tweeted law professor Steve Vladeck.
“Personally,” said former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance in response to the reporting, “I feel like we’re entitled to expect our Supreme Court justices to be better role models. Or, at least, to have an ounce of decency. Putting on a mask would have cost Gorsuch nothing, but then he didn’t care about risk to front line workers, either.”
Journalist Sarah Burris tied Gorsuch’s mask refusal to his anti-choice record.
“So Gorsuch was miffed he felt like he was being ‘forced’ to wear a mask… but he’s about to say women should be forced to carry a dangerous pregnancy to term,” she tweeted.
Currently, reproductive health experts and pro-choice advocates are furious with the right-wing majority of Justices on the court who have refused to halt a state law in Texas that bars abortions after just 6 weeks of pregnancy.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said last month it was “outrageous” for the court to “not to block Texas’ unconstitutional abortion ban.” The people of Texas, she said, “are harmed every day this law is allowed to stand.”
The revelation about Gorsuch’s refusal to mask comes just days after the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority struck down the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large private employers.
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Andrea Germanos is senior editor and a staff writer for Common Dreams, where this was originally published. Email: andrea@commondreams.org.
