WASHINGTON – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was hospitalized last week with flu-like symptoms, does not have COVID-19, a court spokeswoman said on Monday.
The court announced on Sunday night that the 73-year-old conservative justice had been admitted with an infection to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington on Friday evening, but did not specify the type of infection. Thomas was being treated with intravenous antibiotics, the court said.
“His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two,” court spokesperson Patricia McCabe said in a statement on Sunday.
McCabe on Monday said Thomas did not have COVID-19.
Thomas, who did not join in the court’s oral arguments on Monday, will participate in the consideration of the cases he misses using transcripts, audio of the arguments and briefs, the court said.
The Supreme Court, like many workplaces, operated remotely earlier in the pandemic, with oral arguments heard by teleconference. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19 last October, just days before the court resumed in-person oral arguments.
The court building remains closed to the public.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
