Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas returns to bench after illness, hospitalization

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas returned to the bench on Monday after a serious illness that kept him out of public view during a controversy over his wife’s support for former President Donald Trump’s election lies.

The conservative jurist appeared in person for oral arguments on several cases.

Thomas, 73, was hospitalized with “flu-like symptoms” at Sibley Memorial Hospital on March 18 and treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics. The court said that Thomas did not have COVID-19, and he was discharged a week later.

He returned to the public limelight on April 8 when he posed for photos with Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former NFL football star Herschel Walker.

Thomas’ absence coincided with the eruption of a major controversy over his wife, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a right-wing activist.

Ginni Thomas, a staunch supporter of Trump, was revealed to have sent a string of texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging him to ramp up the fight to keep Trump in power after losing to President Biden in the 2020 election.

She suggested to Meadows that the White House could count on the support of her “best friend,” a term she often uses to refer to Clarence Thomas.

The documents were part of a raft of Trump White House documents that were only released to the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol because the Supreme Court ruled against Trump.

Clarence Thomas was the only justice to dissent in the 8-1 ruling.

Democrats and critics of Clarence Thomas said he had an ethical requirement to recuse himself from the case because his wife was directly impacted. They also want him to step aside from all future cases related to the Jan. 6 uprising or the 2020 election.

Thomas, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, has been on the court since 1991.

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