The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, fell last month and required an overnight stay in the hospital, a Supreme Court spokeswoman confirmed to Deadline on Tuesday. The Washington Post broke the story.
Kathy Arberg, public information officer for the Supreme Court, released this statement to Deadline:
The Chief Justice was treated at a local hospital on June 21 for an injury to his forehead sustained in a fall while walking for exercise near his home. The injury required sutures, and out of an abundance of caution, he stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the next morning. His doctors ruled out a seizure. They believe the fall was likely due to light-headedness caused by dehydration.
The incident had not been revealed publicly before Tuesday.
According to The Post, “Roberts’s head was covered in blood.”
Roberts was also hospitalized in 2007 after he suffered a seizure. While on vacation that summer, Roberts fell from a dock after experiencing what a court spokesperson called a “benign idiopathic seizure.” According to The Post, that indicates there was no easily identifiable cause for the event, such as a tumor.
Newsweek has reported that Roberts suffered a seizure in 1993 while golfing. The justice was not allowed to drive for several months, according to the report.
The conservative Roberts has been the swing vote in two recent, hot-button cases. Just days before being hospitalized, Roberts sided with the Supreme Court’s liberal justices to block President Trump’s attempt to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Also in June, Roberts voted with liberals in a case confirming anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ workers.
In May of this year, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 87, underwent outpatient tests at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. The tests confirmed that Ginsberg was suffering from a gallstone that had migrated to her cystic duct, blocking it and causing an infection, the court said.
Ginsberg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital the next day after undergoing a non-surgical treatment the day before for a benign gallbladder condition.
The following day, she participated in oral arguments from the hospital before being released.
Ted Johnson contributed to this report.