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WASHINGTON: United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at age 87, the court said in a statement on Friday (September 18).
She died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her home in Washington, DC, surrounded by her family, according to the statement.
“Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement.
“We have lost a beloved colleague on the Supreme Court. Today we cry, but confident that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her: a tireless and determined defender of justice.”
Ginsburg was first admitted to the hospital in July for a suspected infection when she underwent an endoscopic procedure “to clean a bile duct stent that was placed last August,” the Supreme Court said at the time.
READ: US Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, 87, hospitalized
She was hospitalized again in late July to undergo another “minimally invasive” procedure in New York.
Ginsburg, known to his followers as RBG, had also been hospitalized in May. She was also hospitalized multiple times in 2019 and 2018.
He had experienced a number of health problems, including episodes of pancreatic cancer in 2019 and lung cancer in 2018, a previous episode of pancreatic cancer in 2009, and colon cancer in 1999. On July 17, 2020, he revealed that he had a recurrence of cancer. .
SECOND WOMAN APPOINTED TO THE SUPREME COURT
Ginsburg, who grew out of a working-class upbringing in New York City’s Brooklyn district and prevailed over systematic sexism in the legal ranks to become one of America’s best-known jurists, was appointed to the Court. Supreme by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993. She provided key votes in landmark rulings that guarantee equal rights for women, expand gay rights, and protect the right to abortion.
Ginsburg was the oldest member of the court and the second oldest among its current judges behind Clarence Thomas. She was the second woman named to the court, after Judge Sandra Day O’Connor was named 12 years earlier.
Ginsburg was a staunch liberal on the US Supreme Court since 1993, the court said, giving President Donald Trump the opportunity to expand his conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in the United States with the impending presidential election.
Supreme Court appointments require Senate confirmation, and Trump’s fellow Republicans control the chamber.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the Supreme Court vacancy should not be filled until there is a new president.
“The American people must have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” he said on Twitter.
CHAMPION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Ginsburg was an advocate for women’s rights who became an icon for American liberals. Her departure could drastically alter the ideological balance of the court, which currently has a 5-4 conservative majority, moving it further to the right.
A private burial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, the court said, but did not specify a date.
