The Supreme Court announced on Friday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated in New York City for her fourth bout with cancer.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today completed a three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City,” The Supreme Court said. “The focused radiation treatment began on August 5 and was administered on an outpatient basis to treat a tumor on her pancreas. The abnormality was first detected after a routine blood test in early July, and a biopsy performed on July 31 at Sloan Kettering confirmed a localized malignant tumor.”
“As part of her treatment, a bile duct stent was placed. The Justice tolerated treatment well. She canceled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe, but has otherwise maintained an active schedule,” The Supreme Court continued. “The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Justice Ginsburg will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans. No further treatment is needed at this time.”
This is Ginsburg’s fourth bout with cancer, having successfully beaten colon cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer in 2009, and lung cancer in 2018.
A source told Fox News that Ginsburg “has no desire to step down from the bench and plans to hold her seat for as long as her health permits.”
If Ginsburg were to step down, President Donald Trump would get to nominate his third Supreme Court Justice after having put Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the nation’s highest court.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated earlier this year that if he gets an opportunity to fill another Supreme Court vacancy that he intends to quickly fill it.
“What can’t be undone is a lifetime appointment,” McConnell said. “That’s the most important thing that we have done for the country, which cannot be undone.”