Sawt Falasteen - Justices seek to downplay Covid mask rift at US Supreme Court

Justice Neil Gorsuch has been appearing in court without a mask this month, the only one of the nine justices to do so during oral arguments.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has diabetes and sits next to Gorsuch on the bench, has attended recent hearings virtually, from her chambers.

National Public Radio (NPR) addressed Sotomayor's absence in a story on Tuesday, saying that she "did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked."

NPR, citing court sources, said Chief Justice John Roberts had asked the other justices to wear masks while on the bench.

Roberts denied that in a statement on Wednesday.

"I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench," he said.

Shortly before Roberts issued his denial, Gorsuch and Sotomayor issued a statement of their own, saying that "reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us.

"It is false," the statement said. "While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends."

The US Supreme Court prides itself on the civility of its justices towards one another despite their often fierce legal disagreements.

Statements from the justices addressing the court's internal affairs are exceedingly rare.

Gorsuch, 54, is a staunch conservative, one of three justices nominated by former president Donald Trump.

The 67-year-old Sotomayor is one of the three liberal justices on the court.

Mask-wearing has become a partisan battlefield in the United States, with some on the right condemning it as an abuse of individual liberties.

Covid vaccinations have also become a divisive subject, and Gorsuch joined the five other conservatives on the court last week in striking down President Joe Biden's mandatory Covid shots or testing regime for large businesses.

Sotomayor and the two other liberal justices voted in favor of the vaccination-or-testing mandate.

Following the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020, the Supreme Court began holding its hearings by telephone, with the justices, all of whom have since been vaccinated and boosted, working from home.

The court resumed in person hearings in October.

P.Tamimi--SF-PST