A US Supreme Court judge was hospitalized for an infection

After days of rumors, the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice issued a statement confirming that Justice Clarence Thomas has been hospitalized for days with flu-like symptoms.

Thomas, 73, was admitted Friday night to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington City, an institution that belongs to the John Hopkins University health system, according to the official report.

After several tests for shortness of breath and congestion, it was determined that he has an infection and throughout the weekend he received intravenous antibiotics. Although they did not specify in the statement how many more days the judge could spend hospitalized, it was indicated that his symptoms were not of extreme severity, that at this time Judge Thomas is comfortable and that they expect him to be discharged in the next few days.

In the face of incessant press inquiries, after the statement was issued, the Supreme Court communications department confirmed this morning that Thomas does not have coronavirus, and that the judge has received vaccines and booster vaccines against COVID-19, as recommended for people his age.

Being hospitalized doesn't mean that Thomas isn't at the forefront of his duties as a judge. While he is unable to participate in the hearings, his office confirmed that he receives daily reports of what is happening, reads written arguments and transcripts of oral arguments, which have been delivered to the magistrate both through digital copies and in physical copies that bring him to the hospital.

Many legal experts consider Thomas to be currently the most conservative judge of the highest court. In a court that is currently divided between 6 conservative-leaning judges, and 3 liberal judges, their absence from a sentence would surely not change the course of the decision.

But the health and well-being of Supreme Court justices are always news because their position is for life, and especially if it is a judge whose political tendency is different from that of the country's current executive administration. In other words, if something happened to a judge like Thomas now, his replacement would be chosen by President Joe Biden (even if it requires congressional approval). That would imply that a conservative judge could be replaced by a liberal one, in line with the current administration.

In recent weeks, Thomas was the subject of debate in the country, after his wife, Ginni Thomas, publicly said that he had participated in the protests in favor of then-President Donald Trump, on January 6, 2021. Mrs. Thomas confirmed anyway that she withdrew from the demonstration before a mob decided to force herself into the Capitol.

Thomas' health is in the news exactly on the day when the senate hearings begin to confirm Kentaji Brown Jackson, Biden's nominee for the Supreme Court.

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