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Different Kind of House Call

If you see Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Capitol, don’t jump to the conclusion that she’s there to tip off Members on whether the high court is going to find the 2010 health care law unconstitutional.

That’s pretty much what our HOH spies theorized when they saw her Tuesday evening heading down the hall toward Speaker John Boehner’s office.

Could she be meeting with the Ohio Republican? Wait, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy’s hideaway is also in the area. Is she thinking of resigning?

One spy asked Leahy on Tuesday whether he was indeed the intended target of her visit, but the Vermont Democrat said he had no plans to meet with her. He did offer that he just had dinner with the justice on Saturday. However, he wouldn’t say what they discussed.

While our spies speculated, it appears that Ginsburg was there to get health care tips of a different kind.

After about an hour, Ginsburg emerged from the hallway carrying a bottle of what looked like pills. A Supreme Court spokeswoman confirmed that Ginsburg — and other justices — do get seen in the Capitol’s Office of the Attending Physician, which is directly below Boehner’s digs.

Gives new meaning to the system of checks and balances.

Correction: June 7, 2012

An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated who Leahy had dinner with. He attended an opera gala dinner with Ginsburg, Chief Justice John Roberts and others.

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