“The Chief Justice was treated at a local hospital on June 21 for an injury to his forehead sustained in a fall while walking for exercise near his home,” said Kathy Arberg, public information officer for the Supreme Court. The fall happened at the Chevy Chase Club, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“The injury required sutures, and out of an abundance of caution, he stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the next morning. His doctors ruled out a seizure. They believe the fall was likely due to light-headedness caused by dehydration.”
The fall came three days after Roberts sided with the court’s liberal justices to block the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on June 18 and six days after he sided with the liberals in a case that extended anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ workers.
Roberts is 65. He has reported having two previous seizures — one in 1993 and another 2007.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were informed about the 1993 seizure when they were considering Roberts’ nomination to be chief justice in 2005, but they did not think it was significant enough to bring up during his confirmation hearings, then-Sen. Arlen Specter, who chaired the panel at the time, told CNN after Roberts’ 2007 seizure.
The Supreme Court said in a statement after the 2007 incident that doctors had called the episode a “benign idiopathic seizure,” similar to the one suffered by the chief justice in 1993. An idiopathic seizure is one with no identifiable physiological cause.
The news comes as the court is racing to finish up the term. Five cases remain, including two concerning President Donald Trump’s bid to shield his financial documents.
The court is due to release opinions at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The justices have not been not on the bench as they are working remotely.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.