Like other judges, Thomas was vaccinated against the coronavirus and given a booster. His illness is not related to Covid-19, said Supreme Court Public Information Officer Patricia McCabe.
The court will hold oral arguments Monday through Wednesday this week. McCabe said Thomas did not plan to participate at a distance, as several other judges have done.
“Justice Thomas will participate in the deliberations and discussion of all cases for which he is not present based on the letters, transcripts and audio of the oral arguments,” the publication said.
The court did not disclose the reason for the delay in announcing Thomas’ hospitalization, and McCabe said she had nothing more to add to the publication.
Thomas is the oldest member of the court after 83-year-old judge Stephen G. Breyer, who plans to retire at the end of the term. The court’s only African-American justice, Thomas was nominated by President George HW Bush in 1991 to take the seat of Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was the court’s first black justice.
On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin the confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who elected President Biden to replace Breyer. She would be the court’s first Black female justice.
Thomas has been an enigmatic figure in court for years, rarely asking questions during oral arguments and often writing solo opinions explaining his own reasons for agreeing with the majority or dissent in a case. But that changed during the pandemic, as the court began making oral arguments in a more structured format at a distance. Now he often asks the lawyer the first question, and participates in virtually every argument.
He often leads a Conservative majority that does not include Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Thomas’ clerks went on appeal to judges across the country and played a major role in the Trump administration.
This has led some to question whether Thomas should opt out of some cases involving Donald Trump. When the Supreme Court recently rejected Trump’s attempt to keep documents from the congressional committee that examined Riot, Thomas was the only justice to state that he would give Trump his request while the legal battle continues.
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