Ginsburg speaks from hospital during court arguments

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke from her hospital bed Wednesday as the court heard arguments via teleconference on an Affordable Care Act requirement that women be given access to contraceptives at no cost to them.

On Tuesday the Supreme Court announced that the 87-year-old justice was being treated for a gallstone that had caused an infection and was treated non-surgically at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital Monday evening and was expected to stay for two days. The court also announced that day that Ginsburg was slated to participate in oral arguments from her hospital bed.

The longtime justice has had multiple health scares since being appointed to the bench in 1993 by former President Clinton, including four bouts of cancer. She announced that she was cancer-free in January after undergoing three weeks of radiation for a malignant tumor on her pancreas in August.

Six of the nine justices on the bench are 65 or older, making them part of the demographic the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined early on is particularly at risk of getting severely ill from the coronavirus. 

The Supreme Court broke with tradition Monday and began streaming oral arguments by conference call amid the coronavirus pandemic.