Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery to remove malignant nodules from her left lung at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on Friday, according to the public information office for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ginsburg underwent a procedure known as a pulmonary lobectomy. According to the Supreme Court, two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentially during tests performed at George Washington University Hospital where she was being treated for rib fractures in November. Ginsburg suffered the rib fractures after falling in her office at the court building.
“Post-surgery, there was no evidence of any remaining disease,” the Supreme Court said. “Scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.”
No further treatment is planned for Ginsburg who is expected to remain in hospital for a few days. Shortly after news of Ginsburg’s surgery, lawmakers began offering well wishes to the Justice for a speedy recovery.
At 85, Ginsburg is the oldest justice on the court and one of four liberal justices on the court. Her health has been a matter of some speculation in recent years. She has survived prior bouts with cancer and in 2014, had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery. She also fractured two ribs in a June 2012 fall, but did not publicly disclose her injuries until months later. In 2009, she was hospitalized after a bad reaction to medicine.
The justice, who studied at Harvard Law school, was appointed by President Clinton in 1993. Ginsburg has been a stalwart for equality, and was the principal author of the landmark 1971 Supreme Court brief that extended the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to women. She was the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project before Clinton appointed her to the court.
Reporting and writing from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Photo: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at the Georgetown University Law Center campus in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. Photo by Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press