Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died. Ginsberg died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her Washington, D.C. home on Friday, surrounded by members of her family. She was 87.
Ginsberg had twice been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and also underwent lung surgery in 2018 to remove cancerous growths.
Ginsberg revealed she was battling cancer again after she was discharged from Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. in July. She was admitted into a New York City hospital weeks later for a routine non-surgical procedure to correct a bile stent.
She was last seen in public in August when she officiated a friend’s outdoor wedding.
Ginsberg was the first female Jewish Justice, and the second of four women to ever sit on the nation’s highest court.
She was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton on June 14, 1993 and had served since August 10, 1993. Ginsburg became the second of four female justices to be confirmed to the Court after Sandra Day O’Connor, the two others being Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both of whom are still serving in 2020.
Following O’Connor’s retirement in 2006 and until Sotomayor joined the Court in 2009, Ginsberg was the only female justice on the Supreme Court.
During three separate interviews that were conducted in July 2016, Ginsburg criticized presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, telling The New York Times and the Associated Press that she did not want to think about the possibility of a Trump presidency.
She is survived by her daughter, Jane, and her son, James. Her husband of 56 years, Martin, died in 2010.
