Supreme Court Justice Exhibits Shocking Lack of Basic COVID Knowledge During Hearing

Update (1143ET): The Supreme Court, which is hearing arguments over vaccine mandates, displayed a stunning lack of knowledge of basic Covid-19 facts during today’s oral arguments.

The worst offender – Justice Sotamayor – who not only claimed that there are “100,000 children in serious condition,” with many on ventilators (there are 3,342 per HHS with many or most being incidental covid positives alongside other conditions), but that Omicron is as deadly as Delta.

This is just absolutely astonishing. “100,000 children in serious condition,” per Sotomayor. Where do these people obtain their misinformation? The current national pediatric COVID census per HHS is 3,342. Many/most incidental.

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 7, 2022

J. Sotomayor says Omicron is as deadly as Delta. #SCOTUS

— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) January 7, 2022

Sotomayor claims simultaneously that the vaccine is necessary prevent severe illness (and does so) but that unvaccinated pose risk to other unvaccinated and vaccinated. No logical consistency here.

— Jenin Younes (@Leftylockdowns1) January 7, 2022

The “wise Latina” also posited: “Why is a human spewing a virus not like a machine spewing sparks?”

“Why is a human spewing a virus not like a machine spewing sparks?” Sotomayor is…um. Wow.

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) January 7, 2022

It’s good our Wise Latina SCOTUS justice apparently got her legal expertise and degree from MSNBC University

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 7, 2022

Meanwhile:

This stunningly ignorant amicus brief, filed by medical organizations in favor of the OSHA vax mandate, is the end of the credibility of public health. Is it really possible that scientists in those organizations are so unaware of the underlying science about which they write? https://t.co/KmGs3HWEFQ

— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) January 1, 2022

So the fate of one of the most medically authoritarian schemes in US history is now in the hands of people who have no clue how this virus behaves.

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The Supreme Court on Friday is scheduled to hear at least two hours of arguments beginning at 10 a.m. EST after GOP state officials and business groups filed requests to block President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for employers who have more than 100 workers, as well as a similar requirement for healthcare facilities.

Listen live here.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor has chosen to participate in the arguments from her chambers, and two arguing attorneys, the solicitors general of Ohio and Louisiana, will also participate remotely by telephone, a court spokeswoman said.

The justices spent most of the pandemic working remotely but returned to in-person arguments in October. All nine are fully vaccinated, the court said. The court remains closed to the public due to the pandemic. -Reuters

The plaintiffs have argued that the Biden administration exceeded its authority by imposing requirements that were never authorized by Congress, and that it f ailed to follow the proper administrative rules for issuing emergency regulations. 

Of note – and possible relevance to the argument; in July, Biden explicitly stated that people who take the vaccine will not get COVID-19, a statement we know (and knew at the time) was false.

Under one of the Biden policies, OSHA required that businesses employing more than 100 employees need to require vaccinations or weekly testing – which would apply to more than 80 million workers nationwide.

Taking the lead in trying to block the mandate is the state of Ohio and the National Federation of Independent Business. Meanwhile, several religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, have filed similar cases.

The second policy under consideration by the Supreme Court requires that approximately 10.3 million workers across 76,000 healthcare facilities receive the vaccine.