Justice Ginsburg treated in hospital for possible infection

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been admitted to the hospital for treatment of a possible infection and will stay there for a few days after a medical procedure.

The court said in a statement that Ginsburg, 87, went to a hospital in Washington on Monday evening after experiencing fever and chills. She underwent a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed in August when she was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas.

The statement said the justice “is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”

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 coronavirus outbreak.

Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Clinton and joined the court in 1993, has been treated four times for cancer. In addition to the tumor on her pancreas last year, she was previously treated for colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009. She had lung surgery to remove cancerous growths in December 2018.

Speaking at a news conference in the Rose Garden on Tuesday evening, President Trump was asked about Ginsburg. He said he hadn’t heard she had been hospitalized. “I wish her the best. I hope she’s better,” he said.