Did Supreme Court have screaming match during Texas AG fraud case? Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

Rumours online claim that the Supreme Court Justices – in particular Chief Justice John Roberts – engaged in a screaming match when they met to discuss the court case brought by the Texas Attorney General alleging that multiple states broke election laws during the 2020 US Presidential election.

The rumours claim that by hearing the case, Chief Justice John Roberts was worried that riots would erupt within the United States, as per the overheard “screaming”.

Most frequently the rumours are attached to a video of an individual apparently giving testimony to this effect. The rumours have naturally been proliferated by individuals wishing to promote the narrative the 2020 presidential election was rigged, claims promoted heavily by President Trump himself.

FALSE

An example of the claim on Twitter is below.

Firstly, it should immediately that the claim is demonstrably false because of the initial claim it makes that the Supreme Court Justices met within a closed room. The video above that is circulating of a man giving testimony includes the below excerpt near the start of the testimony –

The Justices, as they always do, went into a closed room to discuss cases they’re taking … there are no phones, no computers, no nothing…

However, The Supreme Court Justices actually did not go into a closed room to discuss the Texas AG lawsuit. During November and December, all arguments have been conducted remotely. As per the Supreme Court website –

The Court will hear all oral arguments scheduled for the November and December sessions by telephone conference. In keeping with public health guidance in response to COVID-19, the Justices and counsel will all participate remotely.

As such, the premise of this entire rumour is that the Supreme Court Justices all specifically entered a closed room where screaming could be heard. Since that never happened, the entire rumour falls flat.

Additionally, there is important context omitted from these circulating rumours. The man giving testimony in the video is called Matt Patrick, who spoke during the Texas certification where the Republican electors officially cast their ballots. He identifies himself as being from Texas’s 32nd district. Despite some claims, he is not a congressman (Texas 32nd is currently served by Democrat Colin Allred.)


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The beginning of Patrick’s testimony is cropped out, but listening to his full remarks, it should be noted that Patrick is merely regurgitating a “report” he found online. He was neither describing a first-hand account, nor was he even describing an account he had heard directly from someone else. He had found something online, and opted to repeat that during his testimony.

I wish I could give you a specific citation for this, but I didn’t make note of it because it was something I read this morning … there was a report available online that was written by someone who is a current staffer for one of the Supreme Court Justices…

Patrick’s full remarks are below for reference.

Patrick no doubt really did see such a report, since there are a number of such stories proliferating online that preceded the December 14th 2020 certification meeting when the above video of him speaking was taken. However such reports are largely found on conspiracy themed websites, and are solely based on a report from an anonymous “source inside the Supreme Court”, and make a number of unsubstantial and dubious claims.

For example, the Hal Turner Radio Show website, known for peddling many false and baseless accusations, claimed that an anonymous Supreme Court source claimed the meeting happened in person because the justices didn’t trust a “telephonic meeting”.

The Justices met in a closed and sealed room, as is standard.
Usually it is very calm, however today we could hear screaming all the way down the hall.
They met in person, because they didn’t trust telephonic meeting as secure.

However the claim the Justices met in person is false. Not a single person (other than these “anonymous sources”) has verified the claim that the Supreme Court Justices broke from the current norm to meet in person. The same article on the Hal Turner website also makes a number of other outlandish claim, including the accusation that a screaming John Roberts told fellow justice Neil Gorsuch “I will tell you how you will vote“.

As we have already stated above, the Supreme Court did not meet in person, and these claims are just as spurious as many other fanciful claims such conspiracy sites are peddling. Only in this case, such a story found itself being rehashed during the Texas electors meeting, and subsequently proliferated by a handful of high profile social media personalities.

In reality, the Supreme Court voted 7-2 to not hear the case because of a “lack of standing”, and none of the Justices would have accepted the relief put forth by the Texas Attorney General, which was to nullify all voters from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia, all of which ultimately voted to elect Joe Biden as president.