他们在美国最高法院是意识形态上的对立面，但是周三索尼娅·索托马约尔大法官和尼尔·戈鲁奇法官在一个罕见的，联合公开露面宣布…的扩散社交媒体上的错误信息对...的紧急威胁国家安全。
“在某种程度上，我不太担心外国敌人，”戈鲁奇在一次由无党派的国家安全研究所和战略与国际研究中心主办的活动中虚拟地说。“我们谈论的话题是内部的……如果我们不倾向于民主的花园和使它正确的条件，它就不是自动的事情。”
索托马约尔引用了最近麻省理工学院的研究发现虚假新闻比真实新闻被转发的可能性高70%。“这很可怕，不是吗，”她说，“人们通过社交媒体了解到的真实陈述不如虚假陈述多。这是对我们国家安全的真正威胁。”
戈尔萨奇和索托马约尔都不是明确提到1月6日，美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普国会暴动或者俄语干涉最后两个美国大选。但最近的事件显然是他们的想法，因为两位法官都直接谈到了打击不容忍、仇恨和分裂的必要性。
华盖创意
2021年1月20日，在乔·拜登总统就职典礼之前，尼尔·戈鲁奇法官抵达美国国会大厦。索尼娅·索托马约尔法官出席2018年4月13日在纽约举行的2018年联合国DVF奖颁奖典礼。
“民主政体从内部分崩离析，”戈鲁奇指出。“他们之所以崩溃，是因为(一个派别)试图将其意志强加于其他派别，而不是通过合法程序共同努力解决我们的分歧。”
“礼貌，倾听，宽容，”他继续说道。“那些都成了脏话。我很担心。”
正如斯蒂芬·布雷耶大法官在1996年所做的那样热情洋溢的两小时演讲上周，索托马约尔试图直接反驳叙述最高法院是一个党派机构。
“我们从根本上相互尊重，”她谈到她的同龄人时说，他们现在包括六名成员的保守派多数。“他们和我一样热衷于维护所有这些东西。我们对如何到达那里意见不一。但我不会从质疑他们的动机开始。我认为今天很多错误信息都是这样开始的。”
艾莉森·雪莱/盖蒂图像，文件
2015年3月18日，美国最高法院大法官索尼娅·索托马约尔在国会山参加一年一度的妇女历史月招待会。
戈萨奇补充道，“今年，每个人都把注意力集中在索托马约尔大法官和我不同意的几个案例上，好吗。它发生了。我们尊敬地做这件事——有时甚至是充满爱心地做。”
“热情地，”索托马约尔插话道。
“热情地，”高苏奇同意了。“这是爱情的一部分。爱情的一部分。”
法官们没有讨论最近的党派之争扩大法院的提议或者修改其成员资格。索托马约尔和戈鲁奇都将倡导扩大公民教育作为他们任期的一个关键部分。
法院将于周一重新开庭，进行本任期最后两周的口头辩论。
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch agree: Misinformation is threat to America
They are ideological opposites on the U.S. Supreme Court, but Wednesday Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch united in a rare,joint public appearanceto declare the spread ofmisinformation on social mediaan urgent threat tonational security.
"I'm less concerned in some ways about foreign enemies," Gorsuch said in virtual remarks during an event hosted by the nonpartisan National Security Institute and Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The topic we're talking about is internal … if we don't tend to the garden of democracy and the conditions that make it right, it's not an automatic thing."
Sotomayor cited a recentstudy from MITwhich found false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories are. "That's frightening, isn't it," she said, "that people don't learn about truthful statements as much as false statements through social media. That is a true threat to our national security."
Neither Gorsuch nor Sotomayorexplicitly mentionedformer President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6Capitol insurrectionor Russianmeddling in the last twoU.S. elections. But recent events clearly appeared to be on their minds as both justices directly spoke of the need to combat intolerance, hate and divisiveness.
"Democracies fall apart from within," Gorsuch noted. "They crumble because (one faction) seeks to impose its will on others rather than to work together to resolve our differences through lawful processes."
"Manners, listening, tolerance," he continued. "Those have become bad words. I am very concerned."
As Justice Stephen Breyer did inan impassioned two-hour addresslast week, Sotomayor sought to directlyrefute the narrativethat the Supreme Court is a partisan institution.
"We all fundamentally respect each other," she said of her peers, which now include a six-member conservative majority. "They're as passionate as I am about upholding all of those things. We disagree about how to get there. But I don't start with impugning their motives. And I think a lot of misinformation today starts that way."
Gorsuch added, "Everybody focuses on the few cases where Justice Sotomayor and I tend to disagree this year, OK. It happens. We do it respectfully -- even lovingly sometimes."
"And passionately," Sotomayor interjected.
"And passionately," Gorsuch agreed. "It's part of the love. Part of the love."
The justices did not discuss recent partisanproposals to expand the courtor overhaul its terms of membership. Both Sotomayor and Gorsuch have made advocacy for expanded civics education a key part of their tenure on the bench.
The court reconvenes on Monday for the final two weeks of oral arguments of the current term.
