Chief Justice Roberts hospitalized after fall last month, Supreme Court belatedly discloses

The Supreme Court belatedly disclosed Tuesday night that Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized overnight last month after becoming dehydrated and falling while exercising.

The 65-year-old justice required stitches and was released the morning following the June 21 incident, the court told The Washington Post in a statement.

The fall at a Maryland country club was not related to two prior seizures the chief justice has suffered, the last in 2007, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told the newspaper.

“The Chief Justice was treated at a hospital on June 21 for an injury to his forehead sustained in a fall while walking for exercise near his home. The injury required sutures, and out of an abundance of caution, he stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the next morning,' Arberg said. "His doctors ruled out a seizure. They believe the fall was likely due to light-headedness caused by dehydration." 

Roberts, who was appointed chief justice in 2005 by President George W. Bush and confirmed by a GOP-led Senate, last suffered a seizure while vacationing in Maine in June 2007.

Over the last month, he played key roles in two decisions that disappointed conservatives.  He sided with the court's liberal bloc in 5-4 decisions that struck down a Louisiana law restricting abortions and blocking President Trump from taking action against child immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA.