Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is facing backlash after falsely claiming that more than 100,000 children in the U.S. are hospitalized, many in serious condition, from COVID-19.
The Obama-appointed Justice made the comments during oral arguments on Friday on President Biden’s mandate requiring private employers to ensure their employees are either vaccinated or frequently tested.
“We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators,” she said. “We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators.”
The Poynter Institutes’ fact-checking organization, Politifact, quickly shot down Ms. Sotomayor’s claims.
“Her claim is not supported by data,” Politifact said Friday.
The group pointed out that, since Aug. 1, 2020, there have been 82,842 COVID-positive children admitted to the hospital, per CDC data.
Of those, 3,342 were currently hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19, at the time of Ms. Sotomayor’s made her claims. That figure could rise to 4,652 if suspected COVD-19 cases are included.
“Both figures represent less than 5% of the number Sotomayor cited,” Politifact said.
Republican lawmakers and former Trump White House officials accused the Justice of peddling misinformation.
“The crucial takeaway from Justice Sotomayor’s covid misinformation is not one of covid hypocrisy but covid fanaticism: she, like others swept up in mandate monomania, has evidently come to believe the most drastic falsehoods with the utmost conviction,” former top Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller wrote on Twitter Saturday.
Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican known for high-profile dustups with Dr. Anthony Fauci, also dug in on Twitter.
“Is Fauci advising Justice Sotomayor?” he wrote. “Will YouTube censor her?”
Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Republican, also called on big tech to take a stand against Mr. Sotomayor’s number fudging.
“How can Justice Sotomayor be this wrong about COVID-19?,” he wrote on Twitter. “Maybe she is listening to misinformation from the political left. I wonder if @Twitter will find these purveyors of COVID-19 misinformation and suspend their accounts!”
The Justices’ oral arguments ran for close to four hours on Friday. Mr. Biden’s mandate has not been enforced, pending a resolution from the High Court.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
