CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp exposed a double standard in the media on Sunday, and CNN host Brian Stelter could not answer for it.

What happened?

During a discussion on CNN's "Reliable Sources" about the controversial text messages of Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Cupp said the media's reaction highlights an awful double standard and rush to judgement.

Case in point? Cupp said look no further than the deliberate suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

"The conflicts have been, you know, questioned by everyone, including, like, Sean Hannity," Cupp said of Justice Thomas and his wife, adding that "outrage is warranted" and that Justice Thomas should be examined to determine whether he has a conflict of interest.

"But," Cupp continued, "you don’t have to look far to find a very similar story that was really ignored by the media and, in fact, called false over and over and over again."

"That’s the Hunter Biden laptop story," she explained. "Hunter Biden is a relative of a very famous person the way Ginni Thomas is a relative of a very powerful, famous person. My Twitter feed is clogged with blue-check reporters who are instantly believing that there is some tie between Ginni and Clarence, and, you know, the rush to dismiss Hunter as not a relevant story by lots of reporters is hard to ignore."

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Stelter, however, did not respond to Cupp's observation, instead asking New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer about Cupp's point. After stumbling over her words, Mayer said there is "no shortage of legal interest in Hunter Biden," referring to Justice Department and IRS investigations.

Cupp fired back, "Yes, but the legal interest in the Hunter Biden story would make the journalism interest, I think, more warranted."

In the end, no member of the panel answered Cupp's point. Instead, Stelter transitioned to discussing "right-wing — these GOP senators come up with culture war arguments" against Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate confirmation hearings last week so that they "could get booked on Fox [News] that night."

What is the background?

The media infamously downplayed the Hunter Biden laptop story when it broke in October 2020. First dismissed as Russian disinformation, a claim debunked by then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Twitter and Facebook worked overtime to block the story from being shared on their platforms.

The Bidens, however, never directly denied that the laptop belonged to Hunter; the media simply did their bidding. But last fall, a Politico reporter confirmed the Post's story. Finally, the New York Times admitted this month the authenticity of the emails, confirming what the Post originally reported.

Through uninterested media, President Joe Biden has avoided scrutiny related to the scandal during his presidency. In fact, the Media Research Center reported that NBC News, CBS News, and ABC News have not even mentioned Hunter Biden on their morning or evening broadcasts in more than 250 days.