Shannon Bream: NPR report on SCOTUS justices' masks seemed questionable from the start

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Shannon Bream on media pushing debunked SCOTUS mask debate report

'Fox News @ Night' host Shannon Bream joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the report, suggesting the reporter could have received 'bad information.'

"Fox News @ Night" anchor and Supreme Court expert Shannon Bream joined "America's Newsroom" Thursday to discuss the media pushing a debunked report by NPR over a mask dispute involving Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 

CNN RUNS COVER FOR NPR'S ‘INCREDIBLY WELL-SOURCED’ MASK REPORT AS THREE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES REFUTE IT

Bream told co-hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer that NPR's Nina Totenberg, who penned the now-disproved report, ‘may have simply been given bad information about this.'

"What I do know is that these justices work really hard to maintain their friendships to be collegial outside of what they are fighting about on the basis of the law and about a particular case," she continued. "So it's very important to them personally and publicly to project that the court is one of harmony."

NPR published the report Tuesday alleging Chief Justice John Roberts asked his colleagues to wear a mask on the bench over since Justice Sotomayor was concerned about COVID-19, but alleged Justice Gorsuch refused. 

SOTOMAYOR, GORSUCH DISPUTE NPR REPORT ABOUT MASKING FEUD IN JOINT STATEMENT: ‘IT IS FALSE’ 

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Bream said she read the report and wanted to vet her sources for credibility on the matter. 

"I saw the story Tuesday coming out of NPR, and I thought that I need to run that down because it doesn't sound exactly right to me. But let me see what I can find out," she noted. "Of course, start digging around with my sources at the court, and I'm getting a totally different story."

Both justices issued a joint statement on Wednesday debunking the allegations, which Bream dubbed as "exceptionally rare."

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The statement reads, ‘Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.’

Chief Justice John Roberts also issued a statement refuting the report. 

Despite this, the NPR stood by its original reporting.

"They're going to disagree on things, but they are actually friends that eat lunch together a lot of days, and there's just a lot of interaction that is shared aside from the day," Bream noted.