Supreme Court | Three judges try to calm debate over mask-wearing

(Washington) Three US Supreme Court justices on Wednesday attempted to calm the mask-wearing controversy within the venerable institution, in rare press releases that illustrate the extent to which the “masks” have taken.

Since last week, Neil Gorsuch has been the only one of the court’s nine judges who did not cover his face during hearings despite a resurgence of COVID-19 contaminations in Washington, under the influence of the Omicron variable.

On the contrary, fellow progressive Sonia Sotomayor, who suffers from diabetes and is therefore more susceptible to the virus, has never left a mask and, since the start of the school year in January, has participated in discussions via an audio link from her office. .

On Tuesday, public broadcaster NPR confirmed, citing unnamed sources, that Chief Justice John Roberts had asked all justices to wear a mask, motivated by his colleague, and that Neil Gorsuch had refused.

Denied information from NPR

The latter, who was appointed to this position by Donald Trump, was crushed on Twitter.

On Wednesday, the three judges denied the allegations: “The articles in which the judge asked Sotomayor to ask Judge Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. The two in question wrote first.

“Although we sometimes disagree on legal issues, we are good colleagues and friends,” they added.

Soon, Judge Roberts brought home the point:

Judge Roberts said he would not comment further on the matter.

The nine Elders of the American Law Temple received three doses of the vaccine and are tested regularly. After months of working remotely, they have been sitting since October in front of an audience that has shrunk to a minimum. By the fall, a few were wearing masks, but all but Neil Gorsuch were back in the habit of wearing them.

Mask-wearing is a very strong political sign in the United States, where the obligation to cover the face, in effect in certain places, is considered a violation of individual liberties by a large part of this right.

Supreme Court justices like to reiterate that they stand above political strife and insist on collegiality in their work. However, they are finding it increasingly difficult to disguise the profound differences between the strong conservative majority (six judges) and the leftist minority (three).