All but one
When the Supreme Court justices emerged from the red drapes at the front of the courtroom last Friday and took their seats — to hear arguments about President Biden’s vaccine mandate — all but one of the justices there were wearing masks. The exception was Neil Gorsuch.
That Gorsuch would resist mask wearing is no surprise. He is a conservative judge with a libertarian streak who has spent his life around Republican politics. In conservative circles, masks have become a symbol of big-government subjugation.
But that is surprising. It’s surprising because it’s so dumb. It’s like seeing it as “big-government subjugation” to stop at red lights, or not serve weed-killer to your guests, or not beat your child to death. Shocker: there are some rules, and life is improved if we all follow the rules.
Gorsuch had to know that his masklessness could make other justices uncomfortable, including the 83-year-old Stephen Breyer and the 67-year-old Sotomayor, who has diabetes, a Covid risk factor. Sotomayor sits next to Gorsuch on the bench and, notably, chose not to attend Friday’s argument in person. She participated remotely, from her chambers.
So, in other words, Gorsuch is kind of a pig.
“Wearing a mask is the decent thing to do,” [Ruth] Marcus wrote in her Washington Post column, “especially when you are around vulnerable individuals.” This week, Gorsuch again appeared without a mask at the court.
A dedicated pig.
Well, sure, but it’s not like he has a job that has any role in deciding what the rules are….
It’s what one would expect from a person who happily accepted his exalted position under the crassly shameful conditions it was offered.
He IS “Big Government,” one of only 9 in the entire country that represent the third co-equal branch of Big Government, and Federal Big Government at that.
If I didn’t have reason to think so already, I might conclude from this that he is a Bad Person.
Well he’s like a Big Mole in Big Government – he took the inside job so that he could dig tunnels under Big Government until it fell down.
For what it’s worth, Gorsuch and Sotomayor issued a joint statement saying “Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”
Note that this doesn’t say that Gorsuch’s insistence on not wearing a mask wasn’t the reason Sotomayor did arguments remotely; it just means that she didn’t specifically ask him. That could be because she thought it would be futile, or it could be that she thinks his decision is fine and the onus is on her to take extra precautions.
Funny that they included the “may” too…or perhaps that’s just automatic lawyerly caution.