File photo of US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
WASHINGTON: US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the four liberal justices on the top US court, has been hospitalised again, the court said late on Wednesday (Jul 29).
The 87-year-old liberal icon was undergoing a “minimally invasive non-surgical procedure” in a New York hospital, the country’s highest judicial body said in a statement.
The operation was undertaken “to revise a bile duct stent” that was originally inserted last August at the same hospital, the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, according to the statement.
The statement specified that such procedures are common and done in an effort to avoid future infection, according to Ginsburg’s doctors.
Ginsburg “is resting comfortably and expects to be released from the hospital by the end of the week”, the statement said.
The nine US Supreme Court justices are appointed for a lifetime tenure.
If Ginsburg’s health required her to step down, President Donald Trump would have the opportunity to fill the third court opening of his term – and tilt the court even further to the right.
Ginsburg, known by supporters as RBG, had already been hospitalised for a potential infection earlier this month and in May. She was also hospitalised several times in 2019 and 2018.
Also earlier this month, Ginsburg announced that she is receiving treatment for a relapse of liver cancer, but indicated she would not vacate her spot on the court.
