Overview
- Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed Friday that Justice Samuel Alito felt ill on March 20 in Philadelphia, was evaluated, received fluids for dehydration, and returned home that night.
- Alito resumed his duties and has appeared active at oral arguments, including Wednesday’s birthright citizenship case that President Donald Trump attended in person.
- CNN first revealed the previously undisclosed episode, and the court’s statement followed the report, reflecting a pattern of limited health disclosures that has drawn scrutiny since Chief Justice John Roberts’ unreported 2020 hospitalization.
- Friends told CNN that Alito has contemplated retirement, though no decision is imminent, and any vacancy would give President Trump a chance to nominate a fourth justice.
- The illness occurred during a Federalist Society dinner held after a University of Pennsylvania law school symposium in Alito’s honor, and the group is a prominent conservative legal network that often hosts judges and scholars.