Justice released from hospital
Ginsburg, 87, ‘home and doing well’ after possible infection
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was discharged from a hospital after being treated for a possible infection.
A court spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that the 87-year-old Ginsburg was “home and doing well.”
Ginsburg, the court’s oldest justice, had gone to a hospital in Washington on Monday evening after experiencing fever and chills.
She had a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August when she was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas. The court said in a statement Tuesday that she would “stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”
While Ginsburg was said to be doing well, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, asked Wednesday by reporters about the possibility of a vacancy on the court before the election, said President Donald Trump would act quickly if any opening were to arise.
“I can’t imagine if he had a vacancy on the Supreme Court that he would not very quickly make the appointment and look for the Senate to take quick action. That being said, we’re glad Ruth Bader Ginsburg is out of hospital,” he said, adding he didn’t want any comment to be seen “as we wish her anything but the very best.”
Ginsburg spent a night in the hospital in May with an infection caused by a gallstone. While in the hospital, she participated in arguments the court heard by telephone because of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a young man set a police car on fire outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday, suffering serious burns in the process.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said an individual appeared to pour a flammable liquid on a white four-door sedan belonging to the Supreme Court Police, parked on Maryland Avenue next to the court building, and then set the vehicle ablaze. An adjacent vehicle was also damaged.