- Sonia Sotomayor was forced to attend oral arguments virtually due to Neil Gorsuch not wearing a mask.
- Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly asked the entire court to mask up on Sotomayor's behalf.
- All the justices are fully vaccinated and boosted.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was reportedly forced to listen to oral arguments in her private chambers after Justice Neil Gorsuch defied a request for all nine members to wear masks out of respect for Sotomayor, who has diabetes, which puts her at higher risk.
"[Gorsuch's] continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices' weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone," NPR's Nina Totenberg reports, adding that Sotomayor had been the only justice to wear a mask after the pandemic briefly subsided last fall.
Chief Justice John Roberts, per NPR, "in some form" asked the entire court to mask up behalf of Sotomayor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that either type of diabetes could make a person more susceptible to a severe illness from COVID-19. Based on the court's tradition, Gorsuch would also be sitting next to Sotomayor. The Associated Press previously reported that all nine justices have been fully vaccinated and have received booster shots.
Totenberg, a longtime Supreme Court reporter, also describes an institution that's overflowing with animosity. The three liberal justices, including Sotomayor, are increasingly upset with their conservative colleagues, especially over the possibility that Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned. While Totenberg describes there being "not a lot of love lost" among the court's six conservative justices, including the three Trump appointees, who may often vote together but whose views are not always in alignment.
"Some of it may be attributable to COVID and the bizarre conditions under which the court has had to conduct its business, without the usual set of full, in-person interactions," Totenberg wrote.
A Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gorsuch's behalf.
