WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the Supreme Court on Friday to participate in a private conference at which the justices considered adding cases to the court’s docket, a court spokeswoman said. It was Justice Ginsburg’s first appearance at the court since undergoing cancer surgery in December.

Among the cases under consideration at Friday’s conference were ones on whether the Trump administration may add a question on citizenship to the census and whether a federal law barring employment discrimination applies to gay men and lesbians.

Justice Ginsburg, 85, missed two weeks of arguments in January but participated in the cases by reading briefs and transcripts. She is expected to be on the bench on Tuesday when the court returns from its four-week midwinter break.

Justice Ginsburg has suffered a number of health setbacks over the years but had never before missed an argument in her 25 years on the court.