Could whatever causes Roberts to have seizures cause him to flub his words?

[Solly Mack]

If people will recall,Roberts has had two previous seizures; the last one just a couple of years ago. He is most likely on anti-seizure medication.


I got no love for the man but that might just explain his flub

[leftstreet]

1. I forgot all about that

Here's a wiki on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Roberts#Health

Chief Justice Roberts suffered a seizure on July 30, 2007, while at his vacation home on Hupper Island off the village of Port Clyde in St. George, Maine.<6><7> As a result of the seizure he fell five to ten feet but suffered only minor scrapes.<6> The fall occurred on a dock near his house, and he was taken by private boat to the mainland<7> (which is several hundred yards from the island) and was then taken by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where he stayed overnight, according to Supreme Court spokesperson Kathy Arberg.<8> Doctors called the incident a benign idiopathic seizure, which means there was no obvious physiological cause.<6><7><9><10>

Roberts suffered a similar seizure in 1993.<6><7><9> After this first seizure, Roberts temporarily limited some of his activities, such as driving. According to Senator Arlen Specter, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during Roberts' nomination to be Chief Justice in 2005, senators were aware of this seizure when they were considering his nomination, but the committee did not think it was significant enough to bring up during his confirmation hearings. Federal judges are not required by law to release information about their health.<6>

According to neurologist Dr. Marc Schlosberg of Washington Hospital Center, who has no direct connection to the Roberts case, someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is by definition determined to have epilepsy. After two seizures, the likelihood of another at some point is greater than 60 percent.<7> Dr. Steven Garner of New York Methodist Hospital, who is also uninvolved with the case, said that Roberts' previous history of seizures means that the second incident may be less serious than if this were a newly-emerging problem.<9>

The Supreme Court said in a statement Roberts has "fully recovered from the incident," and a neurological evaluation "revealed no cause for concern." Sanjay Gupta, a CNN contributor and a neurosurgeon not directly involved in Roberts' case, said when an otherwise healthy person has a seizure, his doctor would investigate whether the patient had started any new medications and had normal electrolyte levels. If those two things were normal, then a brain scan would be performed. If Roberts does not have another seizure within a relatively short time period, Gupta said he was unsure if Roberts would be given the diagnosis of epilepsy. He said the Chief Justice may need to take an anti-seizure medication.<10>

[Solly Mack]

7. Thanks for the link!

[ClassWarrior]

2. Pompous arrogance causes seizures?

Who'da thunk?

:rofl:

NGU.

[Solly Mack]

4. LOL!

That's a good one.

AND...it would explain Bush's bruises.

But also, Obama didn't like it when Biden mocked Roberts....maybe that's partly why.

[JeffR]

3. I once blanked in front of an audience of 350 or so.

It was stage fright, even though I've never really been very prone to it. And of course, I've never been tapped to swear in a president in front of an audience of millions. Roberts sucks major ass as a Supreme Court Justice, never mind as Chief Justice, but he gets a pass from me on this. It's no big thing. Four years from now, he gets another shot at doing it right the first time.

[Solly Mack]

6. We could all blank out when nervous...and such things could be worse

for someone who suffers unexplained seizures. If you're worried about something happening, you're just that more nervous and more prone to mistakes.

I didn't think the flub a big deal

[JeffR]

12. Agreed.

It's no big deal at all.

[EFerrari]

5. That's a really good guess. I was once on some similar meds

that made it impossible to do turns. I bet something like that could happen with transposing words, easily.

[Solly Mack]

9. I trip over my tongue on the best of days

[serrano2008]

8. I don't know but a sea of 2,000,000 people might.

Just being in the crowd would be awe-inspiring. I bet if I had to talk up there I wouldn't even remember my name. I'm sure he was just overwhelmed by the moment and made a poor decision not to write the oath on his sleeve.

He could have had someone write it on their shoe and then lounge back so he could see it...no one would have ever known. That's how we did it in Chemistry anyways when we had to memorize the elements.

[Solly Mack]

13. I'm getting a mental picture of him sneaking peeks up his sleeve

and Obama looking at him funny..


lol

[samdogmom]

10. Then why didn't he carry a backup script?

Justice Stevens (who swore in VP Biden) read from a script.

Would this have been terrible for Justice Roberts? Why didn't he have a backup plan?

(My daughter's piano teacher insists that students who "memorize" their music still bring a copy to the piano for the performance. MANY people blank during important events!

[Solly Mack]

11. Don't know. It wouldn't have hurt anything to read from a piece of paper.

Yes, many people do blank out at such times ...and someone prone to seizures may have additional cause for concern.

I was asking if what causes those seizures could also cause him to flub his words.

[petronius]

15. I also think he should have brought notes, even for a short piece that he

was 'sure' to remember. This is probably an odd attitude, but I was taught way back in grad school, when I first started giving presentations at conferences, that no matter how prepared you are you should always bring notes, partly as a backup and partly to show that you take getting it right very seriously (sort of a sign of respect to the audience and the material).

I still slip up (and invent words, and mangle the grammar) even when I'm giving lectures that I know backward and for-wards. I can't imagine speaking in front of the entire country.

That said, I think the flub was trivial, and the only response that was required was a verbal apology from Roberts to Obama (which I assume he did)...

[EmeraldCityGrl]

14. Very interesting observation.