Justice Ginsburg Announces Cancer Has Returned, Addresses Retirement

In this Feb. 10, 2020, file photo, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks during a discussion on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. (Patrick Semansky / AP)

Published July 17, 2020 at 9:15am

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court.

The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and that she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks.

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“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Ginsburg said in a statement issued by the court.

She said her recent hospitalizations, including one in May, were unrelated to the cancer.

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A medical scan in February revealed growths on her liver, she said, and she began chemotherapy in May.

“My most recent scan on July 7 indicated significant reduction of the liver lesions and no new disease,” she said.

“I am tolerating chemotherapy well and am encouraged by the success of my current treatment.”

Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton and joined the court in 1993, has been treated four times for cancer.

In addition to the tumor on her pancreas last year, she was previously treated for colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009.

She had lung surgery to remove cancerous growths in December 2018.

She had a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August when she was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas.

The court said in a statement Tuesday that she would “stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”

Ginsburg spent a night in the hospital in May with an infection caused by a gallstone.

While in the hospital, she participated in arguments the court heard by telephone because of the current health crisis.

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