The Supreme Court will not reveal whether Justice Clarence Thomas remains in the hospital, after announcing on Sunday that the justice was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.
Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said she had no updates on Thomas’s condition when asked by the Associated Press.
The Court clarified in a statement on Sunday that Thomas, 73, did not contract Covid. However, that statement also indicated that Thomas was expected to leave the hospital by Tuesday evening.
“He underwent tests, was diagnosed with an infection, and is being treated with intravenous antibiotics,” the Court said at the time. “His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two.”
During oral arguments on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts said Thomas was “unable to be present today,” without elaborating further. Roberts added that Thomas would read transcripts from the arguments in order to participate in the cases heard on Wednesday.
Thomas, who was nominated to the Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, sits on the Court’s 6-3 conservative majority alongside Roberts and Judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito.
Thomas’s illness comes as the Senate holds confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer. Breyer, 83, announced in January that he intends to retire from the Court this summer so long as the Senate confirms his replacement.
If confirmed, Judge Jackson will join the Court’s liberal minority alongside Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
Source: National Review
