During her Friday show on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell recapped the day's Supreme Court session where President Biden's various COVID vaccine mandates were argued. According to Mitchell, the conservative justices spread "Fox News internet garbage," but not only did she ignore misinformation from liberal justices, she did not provide a single example of such misinformation.
Mitchell began by asking Dr. Kavita Patel, "What would it mean if the federal government cannot mandate, you know, vaccines or masks?"
Patel responded by talking about the case involving Medicare and Medicaid workers and while avoiding talking about the legal questions, declared the mandate necessary and, "frankly Andrea, some misinformation coming from justices, comments which reinforces actually how much misinformation is out there and I’m hoping the solicitor general can, kind of, overcome some of those barriers."
Mitchell agreed, turned to former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, and asserted, "Well, I heard some shocking misinformation from justices just during the abortion arguments so when it comes to health care on these social issues some of those justices are spouting stuff on, from the internet that is, I mean, it’s really shocking. They’re supposed to have great clerks who work on these arguments for them and on, you know, on these briefs. Barb, tell me about the fact that our Supreme Court justices are repeating, you know, Fox News internet garbage."
McQuade also struggled to provide examples, "You know, when you hear some of these things, it makes you wonder whether they genuinely believe it or they think it’s a good point for advocacy. For example, we hear a lot of argument about, you know, it would be unprecedented to require workers to get a vaccine but in the OSHA context, there is an alternative. You could also instead say 'I want to be tested and wear a mask.' And so, to suggest that this is an all or nothing scenario is really inaccurate."
That only raises the question of whether OSHA has the right to mandate masks, but McQuade kept going:
The other suggestion is that this is so different from anything that OSHA has ever done before, well, we live in unprecedented times and that we never required a polio vaccine. No, because there was nobody opposing it, there was nobody crazy back who said you shouldn’t get a polio vaccine. And so I think they’re grasping at some of these arguments that have, you know, carried the day in the right-wing media environment but in a courtroom sound, you know, beyond silly. Just, you know, it really makes you scratch your head and say what are we doing here. Our Constitution is supposed to be a blueprint for governing, not a suicide pact and it seems like they’re just turning it on its head.
That is not an example of misinformation, that is just McQuade disagreeing with "the right-wing media environment," but what is misinformation is Justice Sotomayor saying Omicron is as deadly as Delta and that 100,000 children are "in serious condition" and nobody pointed out that this great expansion of government power is targeted at 14 percent of adults.
This segment was sponsored by Gold Bond.
Here is a transcript for the January 7 show:
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
January 7, 2022
12:42 PM ETANDREA MITCHELL: And Dr. Patel, what would it mean if the Court rules, and they took this in an extraordinarily rapid way, so this is an unusual Friday session because of the urgency of the COVID, you know, pandemic.
KAVITA PATEL: Yeah Andrea and I’m…
MITCHELL: What would it mean if the federal government cannot mandate, you know, vaccines or masks?
PATEL: Yeah, absolutely and I'm going to, kind of, stick to the lane I know best which is the Medicare, Medicaid rule that’s also being, kind of, debated today with healthcare workers and we need this, we needed it, not just yesterday we needed it last year. As you know, about half the country has already kind of put some of this in place but unfortunately that leaves half the country completely exposed, Andrea, and what it means is we’ll have additional hospitalizations and deaths that could be averted and, and I would just want people to think however you feel about vaccines for yourself, just think about the fact that we have, I have patients who have had to actually invite into their home unvaccinated health care workers because they had no choice. And so, I think it puts not just the worker at risk, it puts that house at risk, the patient at risk, and that’s what’s on the line. And I’ve been also listening to the arguments, definitely do not pretend to have anywhere near the legal prowess of Barb but I have really interested in hearing, frankly Andrea, some misinformation coming from justices, comments which reinforces actually how much misinformation is out there and I’m hoping the solicitor general can, kind of, overcome some of those barriers.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Well, I heard some shocking misinformation from justices just during the abortion arguments so when it comes to health care on these social issues some of those justices are spouting stuff on, from the internet that is, I mean, it’s really shocking. They’re supposed to have great clerks who work on these arguments for them and on, you know, on these briefs. Barb, tell me about the fact that our Supreme Court justices are repeating, you know, Fox News internet garbage.
BARBARA MCQUADE: Yeah. You know, when you hear some of these things, it makes you wonder whether they genuinely believe it or they think it’s a good point for advocacy. For example, we hear a lot of argument about, you know, it would be unprecedented to require workers to get a vaccine but in the OSHA context, there is an alternative. You could also instead say “I want to be tested and wear a mask.” And so, to suggest, that this is an all or nothing scenario is really inaccurate.The other suggestion is that this is so different from anything that OSHA has ever done before, well, we live in unprecedented times and that we never required a polio vaccine. No, because there was nobody opposing it, there was nobody crazy back who said you shouldn’t get a polio vaccine. And so I think they’re grasping at some of these arguments that have, you know, carried the day in the right-wing media environment but in a courtroom sound, you know, beyond silly. Just, you know, it really makes you scratch your head and say what are we doing here. Our Constitution is supposed to be a blueprint for governing, not a suicide pact and it seems like they’re just turning it on its head.
