The Supreme Court’s oral arguments over Biden’s OSHA vaccine mandate on Friday were rife with lies and disinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.
On Friday the Supreme Court held oral arguments over the constitutionality of Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates for private companies with more than 100 employees.
During the arguments, several Justices made multiple false claims about COVID-19, vaccines, and the overall state of the pandemic in the United States.
In particular, Leftist Justice Sonia Sotomayor told several lies. For instance, the Obama-appointee erroneously claimed that U.S. “hospitals are almost all full capacity” due to COVID-19 infections, adding falsely that there are “over 100,000 children” hospitalized with the virus in “serious condition” and “on ventilators.”
It is a fact that children are the least at risk to be hospitalized, and the seven-day average of pediatric hospitalizations was around 3,700 this week, according to the Washington Post.
Justice Sotomayor made a number of false statements about the vaccine’s ability to “prevent” transmission of the virus. It is a fact that the COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent individuals from spreading or being infected with the virus.
Further, Justice Sotomayor falsely claimed that the newly discovered Omicron variant is just as lethal than the Delta variant. It is a fact that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is less lethal than the Delta strain.
In perhaps what could be the most disturbing claim made by Justice Sotomayor was when she suggested that humans beings are really “machines,” which OSHA can regulate. “Why is a human spewing a virus not like a machine spewing sparks?” she said.
Justice Stephen Breyer erroneously suggested that a vaccine mandate would prevent 100% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. This is false, as the COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent the transmission of the virus.
Justice Breyer also claimed that hospitals are full of unvaccinated people. This is also false. Vaccinated individuals are able to contract COVID-19, which can lead to hospitalization.
Leftist Justice Elena Kagan falsely claimed that the best way to stop the transmission of COVID-19 was by strongly incentivising people to get injected with vaccines and wear masks.
This is also false, as the vaccines do not prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
Additionally, data from Northeastern University research found that masks are unable to stop the spread of the virus.
Justice Breyer had previously made a false claim that 750 million people were infected with the virus on Thursday, but walked the claim back later on in the arguments.
Justice Sotomayor erroneously claimed that the federal government has “police power” through the OSHA mandate. Per the Constitution, only individual states have police power.
Some were shocked to find that Justices on the Supreme Court were arguing a case based on outright falsehoods and misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.
“Listening to Sotomayor and Kagan, I thought my head might explode! It sounded like they were actually making the case in favor of the mandate rather than LISTENING to oral arguments from both sides. Minds already made up. AND they were clearly misinformed,” wrote one user on Twitter.
“The Covid misinformation being recited by left leaning U.S. Supreme Court justices is such a metaphor of what happens every day. Lying about child Covid risk, exaggerating the ability of masking to ‘stop the spread’, demonizing the ‘unvaccinated’ while ignoring natural immunity,” tweeted another.
“Many Supreme Court Justices have falsely stated today that the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine ‘prevents disease’ and transmission in the work place. This is absolutely false and highly alarming they’re using that point as fact to make their decision,” tweeted conservative influencer Katie Pavlich.
