July 17, 2020

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, has had a recurrence of cancer, she announced on Friday."

The NYT reports.
She said she had begun a course of chemotherapy on May 19, after “a periodic scan in February followed by a biopsy revealed lesions on my liver.”

“Immunotherapy first essayed proved unsuccessful,” she said. “The chemotherapy course, however, is yielding positive results. Satisfied that my treatment course is now clear, I am providing this information.”

103 comments:

Gk1 said...

That's very sad. I did not expect to hear a good prognosis in January when I heard she had pancreatic cancer. I hope she is using her remaining time on earth for something that brings her joy.

Susan said...

Leaving nothing for subsequent years, 2020 is hoarding all the drama.

traditionalguy said...

No joi de vivre at the Court today.

tim in vermont said...

They lied to us. What a shock.

TreeJoe said...

So probably 2.5-3 months after diagnosis.

I don't really understand this. You are a public figure in one of the highest offices in our federal government holding a vital ongoing role in your vibrancy. Why does RBG think this info is private or can/should be withheld? It feels.....political. What I just heard was in reality there was probably 8 (or less) SC justices ruling over the last few months.

That's troubling.

Sebastian said...

So, still not resigning, eh? I wonder why.

Gahrie said...

What the left is doing to Biden and RBG is elder abuse.

stevew said...

@Gk1: yes.

The CEO of a company I worked for lost his life to prostate cancer. He remained on the job until about two weeks before his death. I suspect Ginsberg is a similar sort of person. They have a different relationship to their work than I do.

Wishing her well and for a recovery.

Tommy Duncan said...

Transparency delayed is transparency denied.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I think as many people know from painful family experience, when the cancer comes back, that's it.

I hope she beats the odds, but they are very bad. She needs to retire. To do otherwise will be bad for her personally (and again, I wish her well), but also bad for the country.

cubanbob said...

I wish her a speedy recovery but the reality is that most likely this time is the final time. She should enjoy the time she has left with her family.

Drago said...

Tomorrow's Headlines Today:

CNN: Why Trump Made Ginsburg's Cancer Come Back

Vox "explainer" piece: 7 ways Trump is directly responsible for Ginsburg's illness

MSNBC: Trump attempts murder of Supreme Court Judge...........(sources close to a guy standing on Madison near 57th say)

Althouse Lefties: You can't "prove" Trump didn't try to kill Ginsburg with cancer!

Francisco D said...

She is one tough cookie.

Yancey Ward said...

Imagine the riots if she dies in the next month.

RigelDog said...

I wish her well despite our large differences in legal interpretation. I agree that she will work to the last minute possible; she's one of the most work-driven people that I have read about.

tcrosse said...

The plot thickens....

Jeff Brokaw said...

Should we have any 87-year-old Supreme Court Justices, healthy or otherwise?

Not if I have a vote on it. Her politics are definitely not my politics but that is so beside the point. That’s too old to be one of nine people deciding cases important enough to get that far, and affecting 330 million people. There are literally hundreds of younger, more energetic, mature but not “set in their ways” judges out there who deserve a shot. 10 years seems enough, maybe 12-15.

gilbar said...

people said...
did not expect to hear a good prognosis in January when I heard she had pancreatic cancer.

So, still not resigning, eh? I wonder why.


Fortunately for RBG; if you're a reanimated corpse, cancer has LITTLE effect on you
Once you've already died, and are being kept 'alive' as a political fiction; death is not something to worry about

gspencer said...

Com'n, Ruthie, give it up. The seat, that is. Go home and spend the last days in some dignity. Your leftist friends want you to cling to the bitter end. They hope to get a reprieve with a Biden win, regardless of how unlikely. And you think you'll be a hero, helping out by staying on. But think of the utter disappointment you'll experience, come November, when Trump wins his second term and you realize it was all for naught.

Here's Ruthie in 2018, foolishly showing her presumptuousness (from a CNN article),

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she hopes to stay on the Supreme Court until the age of 90. "I'm now 85," Ginsburg said on Sunday. "My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five more years."

dreams said...

It seems the end is nigh for Ruth Bader Ginsberg. But, like a lot of old sickly women, she managed to leverage a few extra years. However, It's soon to be RIP for RBG...

Chaos to ensue.

MBunge said...

"Why does RBG think this info is private or can/should be withheld?"


Because she in NO WAY thinks of herself or the Court as public servants. The idea that she has a responsibility to the country to...you know...retire when she was 83 YEARS OLD and let Obama pick her replacement or retire when she was 85 YEARS OLD to allow the country time to conduct a semi-normal process in picking her replacement, these things simply never occurred to her.

It's a type of narcissism which has become quite common where the world is just a movie and RBG is the star. That recklessly holding onto her position on the Court until her last breath might be harmful to the country literally never enters her mind.

Mike

Joe Smith said...

"She is one tough cookie."

No, she's one selfish cookie. She was already too old for the job when Hillary (IWH) was supposed to win. And so egotistical that she may screw the dems out a court seat. That part is fine by me.

But we (the people) pay their salaries and as I and others here have said, they should be absolutely accountable for every part of their lives, health status included. The decisions that they make are far too important. Airline pilots have stricter health/age accountability than nine of the most powerful people on earth.

And yes, I think there should be a mandatory retirement age for all public officials, elected or not. 70 seems about right.

Krumhorn said...

She has served honorably. I wish her well.

- Krumhorn

Swifty Quick said...

I wonder who Trump is cuing up.

Mary Beth said...

Maybe, like Alex Trebek, she feels well and the most alive when she's working.

Rick said...

So will (a) Trump nominate someone immediately hoping the left's resulting insanity drives people to the polls in Nov? Or (b) does he allow the nomination to extend past November so people vote on the issue?

Since (a) relies more on emotion I'm going with that. Imagine Kavanaugh all over again on top of everything else.

phantommut said...

5 more months RBG. Hang in there.

Nonapod said...

Alex Trebek and Rush Limbaugh seem to be hanging in there so far.

phantommut said...

5 more months RBG. Hang in there.

Ice Nine said...

Hmm...in politics, as in war, timing is everything. And we are most assuredly in a political war.

Ralph L said...

I thought the Court was pretty much off until the first Monday in October, or do they sift lower court cases in the off-season?

The Vault Dweller said...

All the best for her. I hope she makes a speedy recovery and has many years left. I have relatives who despite being on the conservative side quite like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They each recently got a Ruth Bader Ginsburg finger puppet as a gift. One of their neighbors, who is a Wisconsin family farmer, even liked the puppet enough to ask to borrow it when he played cards with his friends.

Clyde said...

She has to live six months, if Biden wins in November. If Trump wins, well, then she'll go out with her ruby slippers on.

Dave Begley said...

She really should retire but the Left won't let her. This is both crazy and sad. She'll die at her desk or with her boots on. How's that for clichés?

Dave Begley said...

Ralph, There are cases held over. At cert petitions to read. And emergency stuff to do. I'm sure Roberts has lightened her load.

DanTheMan said...

Julianne Malveaux on Clarence Thomas: “You know, I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease.”

Just for perspective...

rhhardin said...

She owns the seat at any cost.

Dave Begley said...

I can picture major rioting in DC if Trump nominates someone to fill a vacant seat.

Rory said...

The announcement preempted by hours the cancer's announcement of a recurrence of its Ginsburg.

rehajm said...

It does feel as if the msm propaganda is deceiving us to prop her up.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Susan said...
Leaving nothing for subsequent years, 2020 is hoarding all the drama.

----

Unless, 2020 is just the appetizer before the main course...

steve uhr said...

Sebastian --- "So, still not resigning, eh? I wonder why?"

Is that a rhetorical question? She isn't resigning because she wants her successor to be appointed by a Democrat. She doesn't want all the work she has done over the past 25+ years to be undone overnight by a court with a clear conservative majority. Is there a problem with that? Is that unethical? Why?

The good news is that she can remain on the Court as long as she is alive even if she is not able t participate in any cases going forward.

n.n said...

Good luck to her, but is she viable?

Joe Smith said...

"So will (a) Trump nominate someone immediately hoping the left's resulting insanity drives people to the polls in Nov? Or (b) does he allow the nomination to extend past November so people vote on the issue?"

If she goes (retired or otherwise), I think the best move would be to nominate someone quickly and have McConnell ram it through the senate. It would piss off a lot of lefties but would also take the wind out of a lot of sails.

On that topic, he should be thinking of a way to get Alito and Thomas to retire right now and have two more picks before the election.

If Romney, Murkowski, and Collins weren't such RINOs it would be a slam dunk...it would get Trumps's base pumped up and dishearten the libs.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I have a relative with pancreatic cancer. I expected the "normal" result of being dead in six months. Been four years. You never know. Hope she lives for a long time and has good quality of life.

That being said, she should have resigned a long time ago. 2010, if you are a Democrat. I don't like gerontocracy. I wish they had an age limit for the court. Justice Stevens had to be forced out because he was mentally incapable of doing the job at age 90.

It's not fair to the country for the very old to deprive us of the best legal minds (who are a lot younger).

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

A song for the occasion.
ah yeah.

Kai Akker said...

---No, she's one selfish cookie. [Joe Smith]

Agree. Disagree on the mandatory retirement age. Judges in particular seem often to maintain that judicial acuity into very late age. But being unhealthy and unable to be present; then, it's the Chief Justice's unpleasant but necessary task to have a serious talk with the associate. She has missed sessions at least twice, that a quick search showed up for me.

Not that I think RBG would be likely to agree with a plea to leave. She seems determined to die in the saddle. I can't wish her well or express any sympathy -- not only does that seem meaningless to me in this forum, but IMO she has clearly put herself above the nation.

Birkel said...

Ginsberg has stated she wants fewer of the wrong type of people born.
I want more of the right type of people to die.
Symmetry.

I hope Justice Amy Coney Barrett can serve as long.

Anonymous said...

It's terrible that Americans have allowed government to play such a large role in their lives that sick, old people like RBG (and Joe Biden) cannot allow themselves to spend what will be the last few years or months of life free from the tyranny of their jobs.
If federal government activity were appropriately limited to the tasks assigned it in the Constitution, the Presidency and who got appointed to the SC would matter much less to the average American.

Joe Smith said...

And one more thing...

Whoever might be picked by Trump, please make it a non-Ivy League graduate.

Every single justice has an Ivy education. I am amazed that this doesn't get talked about more.

The Ivy League schools are cesspools of racism (anti-Asian, anti-Jew), wokeness, elitism, and far-left political ideology.

Trump would do well to nominate a qualified candidate from a State University perhaps, (AA?) or not even a lawyer at all. It would burnish his man-of-the-people image.

Last, think about Asian, Indian, and Hispanic candidates. Women are a bit of yesterday's news. But a CONSERVATIVE minority justice would wake up a lot of people I think.

Bilwick said...

"I will," Justice Ginsberg vowed, "continue the fight for statism and against liberty to my dying day. Fortunately, that won't be long so I won't be around to reap the dire consequences
of the stupid policies I advocate."

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

From experience with members of my family who have battled cancer, this is not good news, When a cancer reoccurs, chemo frequently becomes more of a treatment used to buy time than provide a cure. The fact that this involves liver cancer is even more ominous.

RMc said...

Leaving nothing for subsequent years, 2020 is hoarding all the drama.

I can hear my grandmother's voice: "You think this is bad? Just wait...!"

dreams said...

"Maybe, like Alex Trebek, she feels well and the most alive when she's working."

I'm sure she would rather not be home alone while dying when she can be at work surrounded by her law clerks as she does her work along with the other justices.

MadisonMan said...

I wish her the best. I figure she's one of those people who resigns and then drops dead the next day. A strong will to keep working, but then what? (My brother, not a supreme court justice, is the same way).

chuck said...

My neighbor lost his mother, who he had at home, last Sunday and I put down my 20 year old cat last Tuesday. I'm not happy about sickness and death at the moment.

Tomcc said...

It certainly seems like this is "last call" for Justice Ginsburg. I hope that whatever time she has remaining is peaceful and as pain free as possible...and spent with her family.

Howard said...

I feel wurst for Drago

Caroline said...

Pussy hats seem so...2019 now.

Ken B said...

Phantomnut would sacrifice RBG’s health for politics.
I hope she has a long healthy retirement.

rcocean said...

This again? Frankly, i'm tired of hearing about her health. Report if she's retiring, report if she dies. Otherwise, I'll assume she's living to 100.

Somebody was talking about her, and said "She must love her job". Of course, she loves her job! She does almost zero work, and is one of the most powerful and praised people in the USA. What could she do in retirement that she doesn't do now? Right now, she only needs to show up at 30 oral arguments, and the occasional meeting with the fellow judges. Note: now, even that's done by ZOOM.

I doubt she spends more than 300 hours a YEAR actually working and that includes reading the briefs and talking to her clerks/judges about how to write an opinion or decide a case.

Megthered said...

I would like her to simply enjoy what time she has left. She has been so focused on the law her entire life there is probably such she has missed. I wish her a desert sunset and to be able to look up and see the vastness of the universe. DC is a terrible place to live or die.

Joe Smith said...

"She owns the seat at any cost."

I love that term 'owns,' used whenever the libs are trying to put conservatives off their game.

Like how Scott Brown took 'Ted Kennedy's seat.' That's all the media talked about. How dare a republican run for a seat once held by St. Ted. You know...the guy who let a woman drown in the back of his car and then lied about it for 40 years?

Drago said...

Steve Uhr: "The good news is that she can remain on the Court as long as she is alive even if she is not able t participate in any cases going forward."

The even better news from your point of view is that she will continue to vote democrat in perpetuity.

Drago said...

Has anyone checked to see if RBG is suffering from the massive Chemical warfare weapons Trump personally used on the Peaceful & Peace-loving Protesters of Lafayette Square?

Asking for Howard.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I hope she doesn't die before the election. The suburban women would then have to decide between voting for race war and economic collapse or a few moderate European style restrictions on abortion voted by in by the majority.

They'll choose poorly.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The man who nominated her to the court is a sleaze bag - and his wife is even worse.

Joe Rogan on Hillary's lies.

I'm Not Sure said...

"If federal government activity were appropriately limited to the tasks assigned it in the Constitution, the Presidency and who got appointed to the SC would matter much less to the average American."

Unfortunately, too many average Americans have an overly obsessive interest in what other average Americans are doing for that to ever happen.

Browndog said...

Not looking forward to when she dies of the COVID, and it will be, we all have to start wearing two masks when we go out in public to view all of her new statues resting on all the newly empty pedestals.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Unfortunately I agree with Joe Smith. No way will the RINOS allow a conservative, moderate or even a liberal Republican to replace Ginsberg before the election.

I doubt they'll even vote for anyone to the right of Ginsberg after the election.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Trump should have his next SCOTUS nominee ready to go. The Senate should be prepared to vote on that nominee the day after Justice Ginsberg announces her retirement.

PB said...

They will spend unlimited funds to keep her alive. If she's in a coma, she still can't retire.

Darkisland said...

If she is still alert and otherwise mentally competent why leave? (obviously a question I can't presume to answer)

What could she do that would be more interesting, rewarding, fun that what she is doing?

I'm with her. I have no desire at all to retire. I'll keep doing what I do until I can't do it any more.

John Henry

Howard said...

Drago claims Drumpfs storm sweepers crop dusted the violent mob with essential oils to pacify them. I accept that.

steve uhr said...

Roccean- She is an incredibly hard worker. 60 hrs a week easy. What is your evidence tin support of your assertion? What do you think she does all day?

Birkel said...

I imagine RBG is under Professor Quirrell's turban, drinking unicorn blood and eating baby parts.

That reference is for the younger people who surely must read the comments here.

Birkel said...

steve uhr,
She naps.
That is her schedule.

Joe Smith said...

@Howard

What is with the 'Drumpf' thing on the left? It makes you sound like a snotty 8-year-old and certainly not to be taken seriously.

Same goes for 'conservatives' with 'Killary' and 'Obummer,' etc.

After reading this spelling for the ten-thousandth time, It's just childish, and I can immediately discount anything the writer says.

rcocean said...

No, Steve she actually works not 60 but 160 hours a week! She's a dynamo! sometimes she works 200 hours a week by traveling back in time and redoing her work,

Skeptical Voter said...

She's tough. Over the last 20 years (according to Limbaugh) she's had colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, maybe lung cancer, and now liver cancer. She's beat most of them. Looks like she plans to die with her judicial boots on.

If I recall correctly Ruth Bader was one of the first women to attend Harvard Law School. The wife of a friend of mine was in the first group of women to enter Harvard Law. If I have the story correctly there were just 6 women in the class. Dean Griswold invited the six of them to tea. During the tea he asked, "Why are you here taking the place of a man?" Of course they all went through ladies day at Harvard. Ignored by the professors except for one day a year on which the professors asked questions only of the women in the class.

Law school can be rough and tumble--you want sharp debate and rapid exchanges between professor and student---and between student and student. I enjoyed some of those rumbles during my law school years at Boalt. You need to let the legal puppies sharpen their teeth on each other. And ignoring women for all but one day during the law school year smacks of dirty pool on the part of the professors.

Heartless Aztec said...

Liver Cancer? Weeks maybe. And not many.

JAORE said...

I worked for a guy that I just knew would work until he died. Turns out a massive stroke ended his career. He was miserable every day after he retired. He came back to the office once and said, "I should never have quit". It was in a voice from the thinnest shell of the man he had been. But not working, not being the BOSS was worse than death to him.

His job WAS his life.

Politically I want RBG gone.

I would not take away her chosen way to spend however many days she has left.

DavidUW said...

She's dead. November 2?

Liver mets bad prognosis.

wildswan said...

RBG may have a different relation to her work but she can't have a different relation to radiation followed by chemo. In the end, we'll hear that she was entirely unable to focus for months on end and her comments were written by others. Just another facet of 2020. Twice as much year zero as other year zeros.

Francisco D said...

Joe Smith said...
@Howard
What is with the 'Drumpf' thing on the left? It makes you sound like a snotty 8-year-old and certainly not to be taken seriously.


No one takes Howie seriously. He is actually a snotty 18 year-old ...

...and a fake ex-Marine.

But he faithfully posts the DNC daily talking points provided by 25 year-old pajama boys.

Birkel said...

I bet she's trying to live long enough to see the 25-millionth black baby aborted in America.
She has to have goals at her age.

tim in vermont said...

"Not looking forward to when she dies of the COVID, and it will be, we all have to start wearing two masks when we go out in public”

Life is tough. Imagine being asked to wear a mask as an effort to help one’s fellow man. It’s a disgusting idea. Fuck grandma if she has to buy food at the grocery anyway! Who the fuck made her my responsibility! Plus COVID is one big hoax, amiright?

Big Mike said...

My mother died of liver cancer. It’s a crappy way to go; she died by inches. Very sorry for her.

FullMoon said...

Will they retire her number?

Ralph L said...

My law professor cousin survived liver cancer a few years ago via a transplant.

GingerBeer said...

She's a widow. Her children are grown, her grandchildren are grown, her great-grandchildren are grown, and her friends are dead. Her body continues to fail. What else does she have but the law and the pursuit of the mind?

Bruce Hayden said...

I actually don’t expect her to survive to the election. My guess is that her death will be the October surprise this election. Cynical? Yes, but I still question whether Scalia’s death was through natural causes. I noticed today a post at Volokh today about lame duck confirmations of Justices. Apparently a huge number of leftists are still seriously butt hurt about how Gorsuch, and not Garland, got confirmed to the Supreme Court (pursuant to the Biden Rule). This was their best chance to flip the Court in decades, and they were robbed. They are
still seriously seriously pissed off. My theory is that her death this fall is going to be used to supercharge white liberals to vote for Biden in order to keep her seat under Dem control.

Cynical? Very. I very much hope that I am wrong. We shall see.

madAsHell said...

She's dead. November 2?

Liver mets bad prognosis.


Then it's double-good-speak when I can hang up my corona-virus mask on November 3?

walter said...

Tim,
Is data driving masking in stores? Should be readily available at this point.
Are you an advocate of outdoor masking?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Trump would do well to nominate a qualified candidate from a State University perhaps, (AA?) or not even a lawyer at all. It would burnish his man-of-the-people image.

I hear Roger Stone is available

Unknown said...

Its a fixed pie

young people are dying to keep her alive

am i doing this right?

Unknown said...

If the courts aren't partisan

As Bob Roberts says, "just doing the best they can"

She should step on down and appoint a textualist like Gore such who will side with the libs

Or a institutionalist deal cutter poser like Roberts

Doug said...

. Imagine being commanded to wear a mask as an effort to help one’s fellow man.

There, fixed it for you.

Nichevo said...

tim in vermont said...
"Not looking forward to when she dies of the COVID, and it will be, we all have to start wearing two masks when we go out in public”

Life is tough. Imagine being asked to wear a mask as an effort to help one’s fellow man. It’s a disgusting idea. Fuck grandma if she has to buy food at the grocery anyway! Who the fuck made her my responsibility! Plus COVID is one big hoax, amiright?


Tim, honestly, why are you so crazed? Do you HAVE COVID? BTW since it's the worst thing since the plague, what should we do about China? This is only their latest such gift to the world.

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

Tim-
The best evidence for compelled masking as a public health measure is very weak at best. No evidence that approaches statistical significance. All recommendations are based on conjecture.
According to Worldometers.com right now, NY, NJ, and CT Deaths/million population are an order of magnitude higher than the deplorable WuFlu hotspot of Texas. (That's 10 times higher for you lawyers). Florida, with its higher population of senior citizens, is a bit higher than Texas, but still much less that the NYC area, despite that much greater of compliance of New Yorkers with dictates from their rulers.
Limitations on American freedoms may be justified by the strongest evidence, not Faucian dreams.

Joe Smith said...

The thing I dread is the 6-month long funeral(s).

I'm not sure that John McCain is even buried yet.

Aggie said...

One good thing, when there is a ultra-high-stakes public life at grave risk, we finally get a good honest look at what medical science is actually capable of, the luxury version, not the family sedan. They've kept Ms. Ginsburg going a very long time, haven't they, over health conditions that would make quick work of the average Joe. Vested interests.

I bet Trump has a female with impeccably devastating credentials in the warm-up circle already.

Lets see.... Confirmation Hearings are held in the Senate, right? Simple majority rules - right?

Having said that, I wish only the best for Ms. Ginsburg and admire her sand. I hope she lives a long time, even if it's past Trump's second term.

Birkel said...

tim in vermont lost a relative to Winnie Xi Flu.

My take is that it's fine to disagree in strong terms with his policy prescriptions.
But personal comments about a grieving person go too far.
YMMV

There is no absolute moral authority (with apologies to Royal ass Inga's 37 children) but due respective for the loss of another human is a better course.