On Friday, the liberal broadcast networks and Spanish-language networks (Telemundo & Univision) weren’t interested in showing just how ignorant a liberal Supreme Court justice was when discussing COVID-19. During the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about the vaccine mandates, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor made multiple hyperbolic and false statements suggesting Omicron was as deadly as Delta and how there were supposedly 100,000 children hospitalized. She also disturbingly compared people to machines.
While ABC’s World News Tonight ignored the oral arguments entirely, CBS Evening News chose to single out Justice Neil Gorsuch for criticism. “And for the first time, a majority of the justices, with the exception of Justice Neil Gorsuch, wore masks,” noted legal correspondent Jan Crawford.
On NBC Nightly News, justice correspondent Pete Williams was wiser to not include criticism of the conservative justices but he did include a soundbite of Sotomayor, and not one of her false statements. “We are now having deaths at an unprecedented amount. Catching COVID keeps people out of the workplace for extraordinary periods of time,” she said.
“And today, the Supreme Court's liberals said the need is urgent,” Williams declared. He also huffed about how, "The court tonight, seems prepared to block what the Biden administration calls a powerful tool for fighting COVID."
In contrast, CNN’s Jake Tapper called out the liberal Justice for her lies on that evening’s edition of The Lead. “I heard assertions made by the Supreme Court justices today that were simply false,” he said to SCOTUS analyst Joan Biskupic.
Adding: “One example, Justice Sotomayor said, quote, ‘we have over 100,000 children which we've never had before in serious condition and many on ventilators.’ That's just not true.” He said this while a graph appeared proving her wrong.
Biskupic tried to defend Sotomayor:
And I do have to say, Justice Sotomayor, she is not so much speaking to her colleagues. She's not so much trying to persuade them. She's speaking beyond the walls the court. Usually it's Justices Breyer and Kagan who try to be more persuasive to their fellow colleagues with the arguments they're making and the questions they're asking.
“Yeah, facts are important, though. Especially in the U.S. Supreme Court,” Tapper retorted.
Over on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, Supreme Court correspondent Shannon Bream spoke with John Hopkins University Professor Dr. Marty Makary to debunk Sotomayor's false claims:
SOTOMAYOR: Those numbers show that Omicron is as deadly and causes as much serious disease in the unvaccinated as Delta did.
MAKARY: That's not true. Omicron is more mild. We have laboratory evidence of that. We have epidemiological evidence of that.
SOTOMAYOR: We have over 100,000 children, which we have never had before in serious condition and many on ventilators.
MAKARY: That's not true. We have not had 100,000 children in serious condition in U.S. hospitals. According to the CDC.
Instead of covering Sotomayor’s lies, CBS and NBC chose to stoke fear of the court striking down the Biden administration’s abusive overreach.
This omission of a terrible moment for the liberal justice was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Progressive on ABC, Fisher Investments on CBS, and Liberty Mutual on NBC. Their contact information is linked.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
January 7, 2022
4:39:43 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: And Joan, I heard assertions made by the Supreme Court justices today that were simply false. One example, Justice Sotomayor said, quote, “we have over 100,000 children which we've never had before in serious condition and many on ventilators.” That's just not true.
There are fewer than 5,000 minors hospitalized with COVID right now. Seen they are on the right. We’re showing the figures. Not 100,000. And that include minors who were admitted because of COVID and ones who tested positive but had been hospitalized for other reasons. What do you make of this?
JOAN BISKUPIC (CNN Supreme Court analyst): Well, there were a lot of facts and figures thrown out from justices across the spectrum that some of them certainly raised questions from people who really know their stuff on this issue.
And I do have to say, Justice Sotomayor, she is not so much speaking to her colleagues. She's not so much trying to persuade them. She's speaking beyond the walls the court. Usually it's Justices Breyer and Kagan who try to be more persuasive to their fellow colleagues with the arguments they're making and the questions they're asking.
But even neither of them actually were able to get much traction in the case involving the 84 million workers. The osha case. At one point, Justice Kagan came out and said everybody knows that vaccinations work. Everyone knows that's what saves lives, but her colleagues on the right-wing were coming at it from a very different direction.
And as you probably know, Justice Sotomayor actually wasn't in the room. She was -- because she has diabetes. She was listening to the arguments and asking questions from her chambers.
TAPPER: Yeah, facts are important, though. Especially in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
January 7, 2022
6:01:24 p.m. Eastern(…)
SHANNON BREAM: Seven of the eight justices in the courtroom were masked for today's arguments. Justice Gorsuch the long holdout. As justice Sotomayor elected to dial in from her office.
First up on the docket today, a request to stay the labor department's emergency regulation requiring employers with 100 workers or more, to mandate vaccines or require unvaccinated workers to wear masks and test at least once a week.
Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan made clear they support the mandate. But some of what Justice Sotomayor had to say in defense of the measure raised eyebrows.
JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: Those numbers show that Omicron is as deadly and causes as much serious disease in the unvaccinated as Delta did.
DR. MARTY MAKARY (John Hopkins University professor): That's not true. Omicron is more mild. We have laboratory evidence of that. We have epidemiological evidence of that.
SOTOMAYOR: We have over 100,000 children, which we have never had before in serious condition and many on ventilators.
MAKARY: That's not true. We have not had 100,000 children in serious condition in U.S. hospitals. According to the CDC.
(…)
