ADVERTISEMENT

Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized for Fever, Sees Sunday Release

Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized With Fever, May Be Released Sunday

(Bloomberg) -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Friday night with chills and a fever, but her condition has improved and she expects to be released as early as Sunday morning, the court said.

“With intravenous antibiotics and fluids, her symptoms have abated,” the court said in a statement Saturday. She was first evaluated at Sibley Hospital in Washington and then transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, about 40 miles away.

The episode is the latest in a series of recent health scares for Ginsburg, 86, a four-time cancer survivor and the leader of the court’s liberal wing.

She took a rare sick day earlier this month, when she missed an argument session with what a court spokeswoman described as a stomach virus. Until early this year, when she was recovering from lung-cancer surgery, Ginsburg had never missed an argument because of illness since joining the court in 1993.

Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized for Fever, Sees Sunday Release

Her health is being closely watched in part because the Supreme Court could tack sharply to the right if she had to step down and President Donald Trump was able to appoint her successor.

Ginsburg has repeatedly said she plans to stay on the court as long as she can do the job “full steam.” She has become a celebrity justice, inspiring movies, books and memes, and drawing raucous applause at her public appearances.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.