FACT CHECK: Was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Recently Pictured Attending A Dinner With Democratic Leaders?

An image shared on Facebook claims Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was recently pictured attending a dinner with Democratic leaders.

Verdict: False

While Politico initially identified the woman pictured as Sotomayor, it later issued a correction. The woman pictured is actually Iris Weinshall, not Sotomayor, according to Politico and The Guardian.

Fact Check:

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Jan. 7 regarding the federal government’s push to require COVID-19 vaccinations for nearly 100 million workers, Fox News reported. Sotomayor participated in the hearings remotely for unspecified reasons, according to Bloomberg Law,

An image shared on Facebook claims later that night she attended a dinner, in person, with Democratic leaders at Le Diplomate in Washington D.C. (RELATED: Did The Supreme Court ‘Cancel’ Universal Vaccination?)

“Justice Sotomayor, who participated in yesterday’s SCOTUS arguments remotely from her chambers, seen last night at Le Diplomate with Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Sens. Klobuchar and Durban (sic), per Politico,” reads text included in the Facebook image, which also includes an image of the alleged group at dinner.

The Facebook post appears to be based on a Jan. 8 Politico Playbook newsletter that did indeed initially report that Sotomayor was spotted at dinner with the Democratic lawmakers. However, Politico later issued a correction to its story and clarified that it had mistakenly identified Iris Weinshall, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as Sotomayor.

“We published an item atop today’s Playbook that erroneously placed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor dining with Democratic leaders at a Washington restaurant Friday night,” reads the correction. “The person who sent us the tip and the picture mistook Iris Weinshall, wife of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for the justice.”

Other news outlets including The Guardian and The Daily Beast also reported the woman pictured with the group was Weinshall, not Sotomayor.

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