‘We have over 100,000 children … in serious condition. many on ventilators,’ Sotomayor claimed
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor came under withering criticism Friday after she falsely suggested that upwards of 100,000 children in the United States are hospitalized from COVID-19, many of them on ventilators.
During oral arguments on the Biden administration’s mandate on private businesses for employees to be either vaccinated or frequently tested, Sotomayor drastically overstated the number of young people who have fallen severely ill from coronavirus.
“We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators. We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators,” she said.
Here is Justice Sotomayor saying that “hospitals are almost all full capacity” and there are “over 100,000 children” hospitalized with covid “many on ventilators.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 7, 2022
None of those things are true. Not even close. pic.twitter.com/MqWEL2UvJg
While there are more children hospitalized now than at any point during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average of pediatric hospitalizations was around 3,700 this week, according to the Washington Post. As with prior strains of the virus, younger people are at far less risk than old ones of severe outcomes from the coronavirus.
“Fact-checkers. Hello?” Fox News contributor Joe Concha asked in response to Sotomayor.
“Inexcusable for a SCOTUS justice to peddle this fear mongering false info,” the Hudson Institute’s Rebeccah Heinrichs wrote.
“It’s actually terrifying that a Supreme Court justice can be so misinformed. The emperor has no clothes,” Ron DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw chimed in.
“Justice Sotomayor’s comment on 100,000 children in serious condition with covid is such a flagrantly untrue statement she should have to correct it after the argument. It’s embarrassing for the Supreme Court to allow that factual inaccuracy to occur in an oral argument,” OutKick’s Clay Travis tweeted.
Fact-checkers. Hello? https://t.co/2flVPevmJF
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 7, 2022
Proposal: *Shrink* the Supreme Court https://t.co/ZyRwADsa5N
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) January 7, 2022
Good lord. https://t.co/DOcWCYSjJY
— Brit Hume (@brithume) January 7, 2022
Justice Sotomayor’s comment on 100,000 children in serious condition with covid is such a flagrantly untrue statement she should have to correct it after the argument. It’s embarrassing for the Supreme Court to allow that factual inaccuracy to occur in an oral argument. https://t.co/1X7LEwYlUY
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 7, 2022
Inexcusable for a SCOTUS justice to peddle this fear mongering false info https://t.co/a5aYTGFD0C
— Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) January 7, 2022
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor speaking covid misinformation literally into the court record https://t.co/i3cot5rW4Q
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 7, 2022
It’s actually terrifying that a Supreme Court justice can be so misinformed. The emperor has no clothes. https://t.co/XQlw2CAwR8
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 7, 2022
It’s somewhat alarming that a Supreme Court justice doesn’t have the right information on this. Wild disinformation. https://t.co/mwvVCEyWhm
— Daniel Darling (@dandarling) January 7, 2022
One of many facts she got wrong, before even getting to not understanding the legal principles at play. https://t.co/JCDZgHN4Ab
— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) January 7, 2022
At the end of Dec, there were ~325k weekly pediatric cases reported nationwide. Nearly all child COVID infections are mild. Where is she getting this stuff? https://t.co/V32o8E04aA
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 7, 2022
By David Rutz