The Wise Latina speaks

The Week in Pictures is up, and for some reason — I assume because they’re trending again this week — Powerline posted two old chestnuts; one is accurate, the other, though funny, is not. However, it’s the accurate quote from a sitting justice of the Supreme Court that’s significant and alarming, not an old joke about a horse race.

yes, Sotomayor did said this, during oral arguments over mandatory Covid vaccines on January 9thm, 2022

(She also said, wrongly, at that same hearing "We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators.")

Sadly this one is fake, and has surfaced, and been debunked every year. Here’s one such debunking from 2022 about that year’s winner:

Fact check: False claim that Kentucky Derby winner rejected White House invite is a years old joke

Quote dates to at least 2018 

This same quote has appeared regularly after various horse races in recent years.

This time last year, USA TODAY debunked the claim when the quote began circulating on social media about the jockey for 2021 Derby winner Medina Spirit.

It appeared to originate from a 2018 joke posted on Reddit. That post in r/Jokes attributes the fabricated quote to the horse: “In breaking news, triple Crown winner Justify has turned down an invitation to White House. When asked why he answered, ‘If i wanted to see a horse’s ass, i would have finished second.”  

Since the 2018 Reddit post, a version of the quote, often including the president at the time, has appeared on social media after various other races as well. Last year, a version of the claim referenced a trip to see former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago rather than the White House.

But there's no record of this year's winner, Leon, saying any such thing after the early May race.