Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized on November 23 with chills and a fever, just over a week after she had to miss oral arguments due to a stomach bug. The back-to-back illnesses are worrying for Democrats, for whom her health is a “constant concern.”
Over the years, the resilient 86-year-old has suffered several bouts with cancer, most recently in August when she underwent treatment for a pancreatic tumor.
She was also treated late last year for lung cancer, having two malignant nodules removed from her lungs. The cancer was discovered thanks to a fall in which she fractured three ribs.
Fear on the left
Those problems have supporters like left-wing attorney Laurence Tribe worried.
“Here’s hoping Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is doing fine and will be released from the hospital this morning,” Tribe tweeted. “Even if you don’t believe in the power of prayer it can’t hurt to try this once.”
Tribe was far from being alone in his concern.
“Yes, Democrats are nervous,” CNN Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic conceded during an interview with Martin Savidge last week. Watch:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘home and doing well’ after hospitalization
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital and is home after having experienced chills and a fever, the Supreme Court announced. “She is home and doing well,” a court spokeswoman said. #CNN #News
Liberal hero
Biskupic explained that Ginsburg is “a hero to [Democrats] so they want her to stay alive and well. She’s the senior liberal on the bench. If she were to feel the need to step down, it would transform this Supreme Court. But you know they’ve been anxious about it.”
Biskupic also noted that Ginsburg’s decision not to retire earlier could come back to haunt the left.
“She took a chance, a bit of a chance, when she declined to step down during President Obama’s tenure, which would have given him an opportunity to appoint someone younger while he was in office but she has felt a mission in her work and Democrats have just had to live with that,” Biskupic said.
If Ginsburg were to step down, Biskupic predicted that we would see a legal battle “unprecedented for modern times.” “You’d have to go back to 1991 when Clarence Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall to have that kind of swap. So this third appointment by President Trump would be the most significant,” Biskupic said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to fill any Supreme Court vacancy that might open prior to the 2020 election.
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