Roberts' seizure shows fragility of high court

Sacramento Bee ^ | 8/1/7 | Michael Doyle

[SmithL]

WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice John Roberts checked himself out of a Maine hospital Tuesday after a medical emergency that illuminates the potential fragility of the Supreme Court.

One day after suffering a still-unexplained seizure, Roberts returned to his summer vacation home on remote Hupper Island and told President Bush there was no cause for alarm.

"It was a brief conversation, but one where the chief justice reassured the president that, in fact, he was doing fine," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

But with four of the court's nine justices over the age of 70, and with the 52-year-old Roberts' health vulnerabilities now more fully exposed, judicial infirmity is the elephant in the room.

"I think it brings into sharp relief just how precarious the balance of power is on the court right now," Nan Aron, executive director of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said in an interview.

One justice, 74-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, survived a bout with colorectal cancer in 1999.

In the two years that Roberts has been chief justice, many rulings have been 5-4 decisions, with Justice Anthony Kennedy providing a swing vote between two groups of four, one tilting liberal, the other conservative.

Aron said she's certain that the White House has a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, even though so far "all reports are the justices remain energized, with absolutely no signs of fatigue among them."

Roberts' release late Tuesday morning from the Penobscot Bay Medical Center didn't resolve questions about his health and future treatments. These include, for instance, whether doctors will prescribe drugs to prevent a recurrence of what a Supreme Court statement described as Roberts' "benign idiopathic seizure."

The phrase means that doctors don't know what caused Roberts to collapse on a dock.

[afraidfortherepublic]

LOL! But you have to admit that Ann’s all elbows and knees and the spectre of a body made out of pipe cleaners applies to her too! I think she’s a beautiful and brainy woman, but a little too thin with clothes a little too tight and a little too short — a stick figure, so to speak.

I remember back on C-span when she was appearing one morning at least 10 years ago. Suddenly this portable wall appeared in front of the table where the guest sat. After a minute, I realize that this wall was a shield that they had created just for Ann so that you could not see up her dress when she crossed her legs. I never saw them use the “wall” for anyone else.