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The Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts suffered a seizure today while he was on vacation in Maine. Doctors called it a benign idiopathic seizure and say they don't know exactly why it happened. Roberts will remain hospitalized overnight.
NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON: Roberts was at his summer home on Hupper Island off Port Clyde when the seizure happened. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said that chief justice suffered some minor scrapes when he collapsed on a dock near his house. She said he had fully recovered and would be staying in a local hospital overnight just as a precautionary measure.
While Roberts does not have any known medical conditions, in January 1993, he had a similar unexplained seizure while on a golf course. At that time, doctors called it an isolated idiosyncratic seizure. That means the doctors were not able to determine why precisely the seizure happened. It was chalked up to the stress Roberts was feeling in the run-up to his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
After this latest episode, Roberts was taken from his home by private boat and then moved to an ambulance, which transported him to a local hospital in Rockport, Maine. A fireman at the scene said Roberts was conscious when he left the boat. Once at the hospital, doctors there gave Roberts a neurological exam, and said there was no cause for concern. President Bush was informed of Roberts' hospitalization by his chief of staff, Josh Bolten.
Roberts seems the least likely of the justices on the court to be suffering from medical problems. He is the youngest member at 52. He's had a busy summer since the court went into recess. He spent a couple of weeks in Europe in July teaching a course in Vienna, and then attended a conference in Paris. He was at the court in Washington late last week.
Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
