Did Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor get hung at Guantanamo Bay? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that she was sentenced to hang at Guantanamo Bay. A duty officer from the Pentagon told Lead Stories that the claim was false. There has also been no media coverage about Sotomayor being sent to Guantanamo Bay or being hung there at the time of writing.
The claim originated from an article published by Real Raw News on March 29, 2022, titled "Sonia Sotomayor Hanged at GITMO" (archived here), which opened:
As Monday's internet traffic was clogged with articles and memes about actor and illuminati member Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock at Sunday night's pedophile summit known as the Academy Awards, a story of greater importance, the hanging of former Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, received nary a whisper.
Users on social media saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Sonia Sotomayor Hanged at GITMO - Real Raw News
The article refers to Sotomayor as a "former Supreme Court Justice." According to the Supreme Court's website, she is a current Supreme Court justice at the time of writing.
Lead Stories reached out to the Pentagon to ask if Sotomayor had been hung at Guantanamo Bay. An email from the Pentagon on April 1, 2022, confirmed that this claim is false.
A Google search for "Sonia Sotomayor hung at Guantanamo Bay" did not result in any reporting from a reputable media source at the time of writing. However, one of the top results was a Lead Stories fact check published on March 15, 2022, that debunked another Real Raw News article stating that Sotomayor was sentenced to death at Guantanamo Bay.
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 are collected here.
