Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch scolded a lawyer appearing before the high court on Monday after she accused her opposing counsel of "lying."
Slate legal reporter Mark Joseph Stern posted a recording of the oral arguments involving the case of a young girl with a rare form of epilepsy who is severely cognitively impaired. In 2021, the family went to court, claiming their Minnesota school was unable to provide their daughter with a full day of classes as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. An administrative judge ruled the reasons given by the school were “not credible.”
The young girl cannot attend classes in the morning, and the family alleges that the Osseo Public School District must provide her with schooling in the evening.
Parents Gina and Aaron Tharpe then "sought help under two other federal laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination, hoping to get a stronger court order as well as compensation for having hired specialists" to assist with their daughter's needs, USA Today said in a Monday report on the case.
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Speaking on behalf of the school district, attorney Lisa Blatt accused her opponents of “lying” about her stance in representing her clients.
It prompted Gorsuch to scold Blatt from the bench, saying she should “be more careful with your words."
According to Stern, however, Blatt's response was one of "indignant and unrepentant" defiance.
“OK, well, they should be more careful in mischaracterizing a position by an experienced advocate of the Supreme Court, with all due respect,” Blatt said.
“This Gorsuch-Blatt exchange is causing me serious pain. Holy crap,” said Wright Close & Barger partner Raffi Melkonian on Bluesky. “I’ve never heard Justice Gorsuch so angry.”
Stern noted that "Gorsuch returned to the issue later, again urging Blatt to retract the accusation that her opponents 'lied.'”
Still, Blatt refused, Stern said that Gorsuch then began explaining why she was wrong.
Blatt ultimately relented.
Former Justice Department appointee Eric Columbus stated that the first clip gave the impression that Blatt was suggesting there was little difference between "lied" and "was incorrect." He said it was "odd."
While the family won on some claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said the "family must meet the higher burden of showing that the school district acted with 'bad faith' in denying services—not just deliberate indifference," wrote Bloomberg Law in explaining the case.
Listen to the clips below or at the link here.
