Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized for Possible Infection

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was taken to the hospital on Tuesday, where she’s being treated for a possible infection. Spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg issued a statement on the matter, as CNN noted.

“Justice Ginsburg was admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland early this morning for treatment of a possible infection,” the statement read. “She was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., last night after experiencing fever and chills. She underwent an endoscopic procedure at Johns Hopkins this afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August. The Justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”

Ginsburg had previously been hospitalized back in May for acute cholecystitis, also at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Acute cholecystitis is a benign gallbladder condition, as the official statement explained, which also announced Ginsburg planned to participate in oral arguments that had been scheduled. At 87, Ginsburg has encountered numerous health issues in recent years, including recurring bouts with cancer. In August of 2019, she was treated for a tumor on her pancreas and in December 2018, had two cancerous nodules removed from her lungs. In January 2020, Ginsburg happily announced she was “cancer-free.”

The Supreme Court has been issuing several historic rulings of late, including naming roughly half of Oklahoma Indigenous land, ruling that employers are exempt from providing birth control due to religious or moral opposition as well as the whopper that President Donald Trump’s tax returns and other financial records had to be turned over to a grand jury.

The investigation that led to the case in front of the nation’s highest court is related to allegations that Trump may have given hush-money payments to women that have claimed to have had affairs with. The records are held by Mazars USA, the president’s longtime accounting firm, which has insisted it will comply with any court orders. However, several weeks could likely pass before a formal judgment is issued, which would only then require the official turnover of the tax records. The president also stated his dissatisfaction with the ruling.