The Supreme Court justices' robes were at the ready in an unfamiliar courthouse as concern about anthrax forced the court to do business outside its marble headquarters for the first time in 66 years.
The justices planned to hear arguments in two cases yesterday in a borrowed courtroom 1.6km from the court's main building. The classical Greek structure was closed Friday after tests showed anthrax on an air filter at a court mail-sorting facility in suburban Maryland.
Traces of anthrax bacteria were discovered at an off-site mail-processing facility for the Justice Department, including the Supreme Court in the latest contamination found in the Washington area, officials said on Sunday.
And as the scare spiraled, health officials confirmed the latest infection, saying a female postal worker in New Jersey had contracted inhalation anthrax, the most deadly form of the rare disease.
The Supreme Court was accustomed to making do with begged or borrowed quarters for much of its history before it got its own building in 1935. It has never sat anywhere else since then, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.
About 400 people, including most court employees, were tested for anthrax exposure Friday and Saturday, Arberg said. Those tested received a six-day supply of the antibiotic doxycycline.
The justices, who met for a private discussion at the court Friday morning, were among the first to be tested and also were given the drug.
Tests on the main building began Friday night and continued Saturday. There were no results as of Sunday, Arberg said. Depending on the test results, the building would be decontaminated and people who were exposed would begin a 60-day regimen of antibiotics.
The justices' robes, each custom made, were shipped to the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse Friday afternoon. The justices will have temporary office space there and at a federal court office building for as long as the Supreme Court building is closed.
The court is scheduled to hear arguments through tomorrow, and court employees were making preparations over the weekend to hold all those sessions in an ornate ceremonial courtroom at the federal courthouse.
The borrowed courtroom is much smaller than the court's own facility, and there was a scramble to accommodate all the lawyers, aides and reporters who planned to attend.
The facility in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland, handles mail for the Justice Department, including Attorney General John Ashcroft's office and the Supreme Court.
In New Jersey, authorities said a 56-year-old woman who handled mail at a main processing and distribution center near Trenton was in a hospital in a "clinically improving" condition with inhalational anthrax, state health officials said.
The Hamilton facility processed anthrax-laden letters sent to Daschle, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post tabloid newspaper. About 10,000 mail workers are taking preventive treatments for anthrax.
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said more attacks were possible. "We're asking people to be very careful ... I have no reason to believe that our postal service is in jeopardy [by] delivering mail. But we are being very sensitive about those places where anthrax has been found," he said.
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