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This Is Troubling — Why Now?
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This Is Troubling

CNN reports: Chief Justice tumbles at Maine summer home

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Chief Justice John Roberts has been taken to a hospital as a precaution after falling at his summer home, the Supreme Court said Monday.

Roberts was conscious after the fall, which happened at his vacation home near Port Clyde, Maine, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told CNN.

A witness said Roberts fell on a dock, and his injuries did not appear serious.

Roberts was taken by private boat from Hupper Island to the mainland. An ambulance then transferred him to the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in nearby Rockport, St. George Fire Chief Tim Polky told CNN.

Sources close to the chief justice said Roberts suffered an unexplained seizure in 1993, soon after his first nomination to the D.C. circuit stalled in the Senate.

Friends blamed the seizure on stress from the confirmation fight, and Roberts limited certain activities such as driving after it happened. But after a few weeks, the problem went away, and he has since not suffered any health crises, the sources said.

I am not going to hide the fact that I don’t like the guy, but this is troubling and I wish his family well. You have to wonder what is going on when someone this relatively young apparently has seizures. You would think that doctors would have noted anything serious and done something about it. The man has young children.

People around here stumble on docks all the time, but they don’t get hauled to the hospital, and no one suggests they stop driving.

2 comments

1 Steve Bates { 07.31.07 at 8:37 am }

I wish Chief Justice Roberts a speedy return to good health.

As awful as Roberts is as a judge… and that’s plenty awful, as he appears, based on outcomes, to have a history over his career of deciding cases before hearing arguments… one has to contemplate a few other possibilities to appreciate him. See how these roll off your tongue: “Chief Justice Antonin Scalia.” “Chief Justice Clarence Thomas.” “Chief Justice Fred Fielding.” (Hey, don’t laugh; Bush did that once before with another former White House counsel who now couldn’t show up for confirmation hearings without being seized.)

2 Bryan { 07.31.07 at 12:38 pm }

The latest is speculation that it is epilepsy, which is not life threatening and shouldn’t be a bar to service.

Chief Justice is a separate position and requires a separate confirmation. I would love to see Scalia or Thomas confirmation hearings, but I doubt the Senate could find the time in the next 18 months to hold hearings on a Supreme Court nomination – too much of “the people’s business” to do.