U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to prove she’s as tough as they come. The 87-year-old checked in to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Mon. May 4, after she developed an infection in a gall stone. On May 5, she underwent a non-surgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition that the court described as acute cholecystitis. And through it all, RBG kept on working, hearing the high court’s telephone arguments on both days! The members of SCOTUS have been handling courtroom cases over the phone due to social distancing caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The court told the Associated Press that the justice is “resting comfortably and expects to be in the hospital for a day or two.” That has many left-leaning folks as well as celebrities relieved. For as long as she remains on the bench, it doesn’t give President Donald Trump, 73, a chance to replace the liberal icon with another ultra-conservative justice selection. Ginsburg has been on the Supreme Court since 1993, as she was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton.
Actress Rosanna Arquette tweeted, “Pray for Ruth Bader Ginsburg she’s been hospitalized,” to which Rosie O’Donnell responded by telling her to remain calm, writing “yet she will be at work tomorrow morning #goRBG.” Former Two and a Half Men star John Cryer thinks there’s a better way for justices to serve than through lifetime appointments by presidents. “No disrespect meant to Justice Ginsburg, but it’s time that we legislated single 20 year terms for all Supreme Court Justices,” he tweeted.
Pray for Ruth Bader Ginsburg she’s been hospitalized.
— ✌🏼rosanna arquette (@RoArquette) May 6, 2020
No disrespect meant to Justice Ginsburg, but it’s time that we legislated single 20 year terms for all Supreme Court Justices https://t.co/keDMJxGWUL
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) May 6, 2020
Ginsburg has battled cancer four times, most recently in Aug. 2019 when she received radiation for a pancreatic tumor. In 2018 she was diagnosed with early stage lung cancer and had part of her lung removed. In 2009 she was treated for early stage pancreatic cancer and in 1999 she battled and beat colorectal cancer. In a rare interview with CNN on Jan. 7, 2020, she said she was happy to start the year free of the disease. “I’m cancer-free. That’s good,” Ginsburg revealed. She has said in the past she will continue to serve on the court as long as her health allows, even willing to go to the age of 90. The current makeup of the Supreme Court stands at five justices nominated by Republican presidents to four by Democrats. The loss of Ginsburg under Trump would then tilt the court’s scale further right with another conservative Republican judge, even though justices are supposed to remain impartial to politics and follow the rule of the law.