Supreme Court Corrects Transcript, Notes Gorsuch Didn't Make False Flu Claim
The Supreme Court has updated its official transcript of court proceedings that took place last week, clarifying that Justice Neil Gorsuch did not make a false claim about the flu.
The Supreme Court has updated its official transcript of court proceedings that took place last week, clarifying that Justice Neil Gorsuch did not make a false claim about the flu.
The nation’s top court heard oral arguments on Friday for and against two Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including one promulgated against every business with 100 or more workers by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Gorsuch, a Trump nominee, during questioning of Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, said that polio “was a terrible scourge on this country for many years” but that the federal government has never mandated it for workers through OSHA.
“We have flu vaccines. The flu kills, I believe, hundreds of thousands of people every year. OSHA has never purported to regulate on that basis. What do we make of that when we’re thinking about what qualifies as a major question and what doesn’t?” Gorsuch was quoted as saying.
Critics noted that hundreds of thousands of people are not killed by the flu every year, but some people noted that Gorsuch had not appeared to say “of.”
The Supreme Court on Monday quietly updated the transcript (pdf), with Gorsuch being quoted now as saying, “The flu kills, I believe, hundreds, thousands of people every year.”
The court did not alert the public to the change and spokespersons have not responded to emailed questions regarding the sessions on Friday.