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Ginsburg Underwent Cancer Treatment This Summer

Longtime associate justice has been battling cancer for decades

Screenshot YouTube
August 23, 2019

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent three weeks of radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court disclosed on Friday.

Ginsburg received treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City beginning on August 5, after a localized cancerous tumor was found on Ginsburg's pancreas, according to NPR. Doctors at the hospital found that the cancer had not spread elsewhere in her body. Ginsburg's treatment included inserting a stent in her bile duct, according to the Supreme Court's statement.

Ginsburg, who turned 86 in March, has been battling various forms of cancer for decades. In 1999, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, for which she underwent surgery and completed chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Ginsburg underwent surgery again in 2009 for pancreatic cancer. She had a stent placed in her right coronary artery in 2014 for discomfort she experienced while exercising with her personal trainer.

Ginsburg was hospitalized in November 2018 after fracturing three ribs when she fell in her office. A subsequent scan of the affected area revealed that Ginsburg had cancerous nodules in her lungs. She received a left-lung lobectomy to remove the nodules in December 2018.

Ginsburg missed an oral argument in January while she recuperated from the surgery. It was the first time she had missed a Supreme Court oral argument since taking office in August 1993.

Ginsburg has 11 events planned for September and has not canceled any of them, according to NPR. The Supreme Court begins a new term in October and most justices return to work in September.

President Donald Trump has already appointed two Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has indicated that the Republican-led Senate would not hesitate to confirm a third if a vacancy should open up before a new session of Congress begins in 2021.