Did the U.S. Marine Corps arrest Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor after a three-month investigation that found she received money for being in favor of masking, vaccination mandates and fabricating statements to increase the fear of COVID-19? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Sotomayor has been arrested as of February 21, 2022. Also, the claim was made on a self-described satirical website whose disclaimer says it publishes articles for "entertainment purposes."
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on February 18, 2022, titled "Military Arrests SCJ Sonia Sotomayor - Real Raw News" (archived here), which opened:
U.S. Marines on Wednesday arrested Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor following a 3-month investigation into whether she had accepted cash payoffs for rulings favoring mask and vaccination mandates and knowingly made false statements to amplify Covid fear.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Military Arrests SCJ Sonia Sotomayor - Real Raw News
No reputable news outlet has reported on this alleged Sotomayor arrest as of February 21, 2022. We reached out to the Supreme Court for a comment on this claim. We will update this story if they respond.
Real Raw News has a long history of publishing false claims in mock news stories, many of them about convictions and executions of various public figures at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. For example, the site reported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hanged (she wasn't); former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta was executed (he wasn't); and that "the military" convicted former Attorney General William Barr on charges of treason (it didn't).
The website for Real Raw News includes a disclaimer that warns readers not to take its content too seriously. Specifically, it says:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. This website contains humor, parody, and satire. We have included this disclaimer for our protection, on the advice on legal counsel.
(Source: RealRawNews.com screenshot taken Tue Aug 3 16:39:48 UTC 2021)
Lead Stories has covered claims published by Real Raw News in the past. Previous Lead Stories debunks of Real Raw News items is collected here.
