The Supreme Court said Tuesday night that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been hospitalized earlier in the day to undergo a nonsurgical treatment for inflammation of the gallbladder, adding that she is now “resting comfortably.”
“Following oral arguments on Monday, the Justice underwent outpatient tests at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., that confirmed she was suffering from a gallstone that had migrated to her cystic duct, blocking it and causing an infection,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Ginsburg, 87, was then treated at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon, according to the court. The longtime justice plans to participate remotely from the hospital in oral arguments that the court has planned for Wednesday morning.
The Supreme Court said Ginsburg is expected to be in the hospital for one or two days.
Ginsburg has had multiple health scares since being appointed to the bench in 1993 by former President Clinton, including four bouts with cancer. In January, she announced that she was cancer-free after undergoing three weeks of radiation for a malignant tumor on her pancreas in August.
The court on Monday broke with tradition and held oral arguments via teleconference amid the pandemic. In addition to its sessions on Monday and Wednesday, the country’s highest court will hold eight more arguments this month via teleconference, featuring a landmark May 12 case involving President Trump’s financial records.
Six of the nine justices on the bench are 65 or older, putting them in the demographic that’s most at risk for serious illness as a result of the coronavirus.