As of 22:00 Beijing time on January 19, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 67.59 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeded 854,000. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.5 percent of the new cases in the United States last week were infected with the Olmikeron strain. In such a dire situation, the U.S. Supreme Court has staged a farce — a conservative judge appointed by a Republican president who refuses to wear a mask and another liberal judge appointed by a Democratic president who is forced to telecommute.
On the 7th of this month, at the first hearing of the U.S. Supreme Court of the Year, 8 of the 9 judges were present, with Sonia Sotomayor attending via remote wiring, and of the 8 people present, except for Neil Gorsuch, all wore masks.
Since then, Sonia has been involved remotely in the work of the Supreme Court. According to the words of people familiar with the national public radio on the 18th, the NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO exposed the reasons behind it - the 68-year-old Sonia has diabetes and belongs to the high-risk group of new crown pneumonia, and the new round of the epidemic brought by the Olmikron strain makes her very worried, so the chief justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts asked other judges to wear masks, but was rejected by conservative judge Neil Gosuch. With the two of them seating next to each other, Sonia had to choose to work remotely.
Affected by the epidemic, the U.S. Supreme Court worked online from March 2020 to October 2021, and just a few days before resuming offline work, a judge who completed the full vaccination tested positive for COVID-19. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the media and lawyers must wear masks, but there is no specific rule for judges to wear masks.
Many people criticized Neil for lacking common sense in epidemic prevention, lack of public morality, and inconsiderate of colleagues, and analysis pointed out that behind this mask farce reflects the current situation of serious political rift in the United States, and even the Supreme Court, which should have abandoned its political stance and embodied fairness and justice, is not spared.
Former Alabama state prosecutor Joyce Vance: It shows how politicized and divided this country is.
Brian Fallon, former director of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs: Judge Gorsuch certainly knew it was going to be a controversy, so he saw it as an opportunity to show his personal image, which I think would increasingly erode people's confidence in the Supreme Court.
The "conservative-led" U.S. Supreme Court
There are nine judges in the U.S. Supreme Court, all of whom serve for life if there are no special circumstances. Those 9 positions maintained a delicate balance of 5 conservatives and 4 liberals for an extended period of time, and with then-President Trump appointing conservative Judge Amy Kony Barrett in 2020, the ratio became 6:3, with conservatives taking a clear advantage. At that time, there were many American public opinions worried that race issues, voting rights, gun control and environmental regulation issues would be dominated by conservatives, the legitimacy of the Supreme Court's rulings might be more questioned, and the division of American society would be further deepened.
On the 13th of this month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Joe Biden's policy of compulsory COVID-19 vaccination and regular virus testing for employees of large enterprises. Many U.S. health officials and public health professionals have expressed great disappointment, noting that it will make the outbreak worse in the United States.
Source: CCTV News Client