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Justice Ginsburg Completes Radiation Therapy for Malignant Tumor
The Supreme Court announced today that Associate Justice Ruth Ginsburg, 86, has completed a three week course of radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for a malignant tumor on her pancreas. The tumor was detected during a blood test in early July and confirmed through a biopsy on July 31. In addition to the radiation therapy, Ginsburg also had a bile duct stent installed. According to the Office of Public Information at the Supreme Court, the tumor was “definitively treated” and there is no sign of disease elsewhere in her body.
Ginsburg has had cancer numerous times. Most recently, just last December she had a lobectomy on the left side of her lungs to remove cancerous nodules, also performed at Memorial Sloan Kettering. That procedure caused her to miss oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the first time she’d been absent since joining the court.
Ginsburg has said she wishes to remain on the court as long as she is mentally capable, but the reoccurrence of her cancer, although successfully treated, raises the prospect that she may resign for health reasons, or even pass away, before the 2020 presidential election. In which case, Donald Trump would nominate her replacement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has stated that he would “absolutely” bring a vote to the floor of the Senate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.
What do you think will happen? Let us know in the comments.
NEW: Justice Ginsburg has completed a 3 week course of radiation therapy to treat a tumor on her pancreas. “The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.” pic.twitter.com/vGo8hyNRJZ
— Kimberly Robinson (@KimberlyRobinsn) August 23, 2019
Bird in the hand! Hillary and Obama choose to role the dice and wait to for after the election to nominate a super lefty. That didn’t work out. ACB at first chance.
This deathwatch talk is sufficient reason to add term limits.
She has refrained from incendiary comments about the current administration, and she has praised both newer Justices. However, with all her medical problems, she should resign so she can give her attention to her treatment. I wonder whether she would be undergoing all the arduous treatment if she had already retired. I wish her well.
I bet women are already lining up to accuse Trump’s next nominee of sexual assault. Whoever he (or she) is, it was definitely him (or her) at that party in 1978…
Joseph Stanko
I bet women are already lining up to accuse Trump’s next nominee of sexual assault. Whoever he (or she) is, it was definitely him (or her) at that party in 1978…
If Trump gets the next Supreme Court nominee, I have no doubt it will be a woman. Unless it is, you know, MG.
The Notorious ACB!
While the Kavanaugh battle was bring fought, didn’t someone in the administration hint that Barrett was being held in reserve as Trump’s next nominee?
If you are going to talk about Joe Biden, talk about Joe Biden. Don’t just dance around it.
No politics allowed? What’s the point then?
Look, a frail 86 year-old remaining on the court IS political.
I say this about any politician – usually Senators like Mc Cain, Thad Cochran and the like – if you insist on hanging on way past your normal retirement time, people’s only recourse is to speculate, and even hope for your demise. It’s not like you are indispensable in your job. I have little sympathy. She’s 86. People her age die all the time. It’s sad for all of them and their families. It wouldn’t be news if she weren’t in politics. So I have no problem with what people may say or think.
The Indispensable Man
(by Saxon White Kessinger)
Sometime when you’re feeling important;
Sometime when your ego ‘s in bloom;
Sometime when you take it for granted,
You’re the best qualified in the room:
Sometime when you feel that your going,
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions,
And see how they humble your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining,
Is a measure of how much you’ll be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find that in no time,
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint example,
Is to do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There’s no indispensable man.
Excellent. The only possible exception I can think of is Winston Churchill.
Val,
Believe me that I have the same feelings about cancer that you do. However, my 85-year-old mother took a trip to London six months before. She shlepped her bag half a mile through Heathrow. Then back home the pancreatic curse hit her and she was gone very, very fast.
Maybe a miracle will save RGB and I wouldn’t withhold a miracle from her. I just honestly wouldn’t expect too much. Sorry.
Regards,
Jim
That’s an absurd statement…
Nevertheless, at the time, the president (GHWB) was a Republican and the Senate majority was Democrat.
I seem to remember she has criticized him while in office. But definitely she gave several interviews in the summer of 2016 in which she attacked him as a “faker” and said she couldn’t imagine the country with him as president, and basically endorsed Hillary. So if she hasn’t attacked him while he’s been president it’s only because of the blowback she received for improperly inserting herself into the presidential election in 2016. She ended having to apologize and promise to not do it again.
That is true. She has recently spoken well of both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. And that is actually not surprising given her friendship with Scalia. The justices do spend a lot of time with each other and it’s hard to demonize someone you know personally and have to work with. Or, what I mean is, when you know someone well and work with them you see them for who they really are as opposed to how insane Leftists characterize them.
She didn’t retire from her position at the prospect of being in the minority as did a lot of GOP house members in 2018. If Trump had appointed two more “conservative” justices, she’d still be there supporting what she believes.
I wonder.
If she really put her ideology first, she should have retired the way Anthony Kennedy did, when her party controlled the Senate and White House.
There’s a lot of ego in progressives. You’ll note that Republicans support, and Democrats oppose term limits:
“If I’m not here, who knows what my idiot constituents will do!”
She did take a lot of heat for not retiring, the fear her critics had being that she’d be forced out by failing health when Republicans were the majority. Regarding why she didn’t resign, a lot of “strength and determination” comes from ego, IMNSHO.
I think Republican support for term limits is for show. Too many in secure seats hang on too long.
The Republicans implemented term limits for committee chairmen in their own caucus. They tried to pass it overall, but the Supreme Court ruled they needed a Constitutional amendment; which of course meant the Democrats could vote it down even in the minority.
Like unilateral disarmament, unilateral term limitation by Republicans is a kind of suicidal idea; i.e., gifting the Democrats with more open seats to go after.
If they cared about their ideology, there would be a GOP succession plan for the secure seats, replacing the old blood with new. That doesn’t equal unilateral disarmament. The truth is that I am more cynical than you. It’s easy to support something that can’t be achieved. To me, it’s a kind of virtue signaling. I admit I am probably wrong in one or two cases.
She never said her ideology came first. She has consistently said that her longevity on the court comes first, along with keeping very expensive art from the Smithsonian on her office walls, kept from the viewing public.