Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito became ill during an event in Philadelphia on the evening of March 20, a spokesperson for the high court said Friday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home,” the spokesperson said.
Alito, 76, underwent an examination and received fluids for dehydration, the spokesperson said, adding he returned home that night, which was previously planned.
“Justice Alito was thoroughly checked by his own physician, and he returned to work the following Monday for oral argument,” the spokesperson added.
Alito has attended all oral arguments since the episode and has participated throughout them, including for the birthright citizenship case on Wednesday.
CNN first reported Friday that Alito had been taken to the hospital last month, which was previously undisclosed.
Alito has served on the high court since January 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate. He is among the six conservative justices on the bench, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
President Donald Trump nominated Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett to the court during his first term in office. Republicans have been monitoring the justices, especially Alito and Thomas, for possible retirements during Trump’s second term.
Some of the other sitting justices have experienced health incidents in recent years, including Thomas in 2022 when he was hospitalized for a week for flulike symptoms. In 2020, Roberts, the chief justice, was briefly hospitalized after he fell and injured his forehead while walking near his home.
A few months later, in September 2020, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died after complications of metastatic pancreas cancer.
In 2022, during the Biden administration, Justice Stephen Breyer became the latest of the nine justices to retire from the Supreme Court. President Joe Biden nominated Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as his successor.
