When neither the law nor the facts are in your favor, invent new facts

the judge and her chief law clerk confer

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Ol’ Dependable’s vaccine mandate this morning; here’s Justice Sotomayor at work with her smoke machine:

No one expects the Court’s least qualified affirmative hire to grasp legal principles, but either she’s outright lying here or, probably more likely, she simply has no idea what she’s talking about, but is ready to base a legal opinion on that ignorance:

Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers, representing the coalition of GOP-led states opposing the OSHA rules, was quizzed by Justice Sotomayor on the mandates -- which she again said was not a mandate.

She objected to his claim that Omicron represented a new situation than Delta, given its lesser severity in many instances, as well as his claim that vaccines appeared to be less effective at stopping transmission.

Sotomayor pointed to increased hospitalizations and said that "those numbers show that omicron is just as deadly for the unvaccinated."

"We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators," she said.

Justice Thomas, meanwhile, asks Flowers to speak more about the different risks and the vaccine's effectiveness at stopping transmission.

He cites data saying vaccinated over 65s are twice as likely to die as 18-49 who are unvaccinated.

Sotomayor fires back and accuses him of "comparing apples to oranges" and says "lower risk is not no risk." She also says that the unvaccinated put other people at risk.

UPDATE: Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to notice the mental acuity of our worst justice:

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Today’s deep question: Will Twitter suspend Sotomayor for COVID misinformation?

● Sotomayor: “Why is a human not like a machine when it is spewing bloodborne (!) viruses?”

● Sotomayor says Omicron is as deadly as Delta. 

● 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. None of those things are true. Not even close.

Related: Sotomayor Claims Not to Understand the Distinction Between State and Federal Powers.

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Oral Arguments Postponed As Justice Sotomayor Gets Gavel Stuck Up Her Nose Again.