Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87.
Ginsburg, who had served on the Supreme Court since 1993, died on Friday at her home surrounded by loved ones from complications related to her cancer, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
“Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tired and resolute champion of justice.”
In recent years, Ginsburg’s battle with her health led to questions about the future of the Supreme Court, as President Trump has already appointed two conservative judges, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, to the high court.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ginsburg dictated to her granddaughter on her deathbed, according to NPR.
Most recently, the liberal female icon was briefly hospitalized in New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in late July and underwent a nonsurgical procedure to revise a bile duct stent. She began a course of chemotherapy in May to treat a recurrence of cancer, and that same month, she received treatment for a gallbladder infection.
The liberal justice was treated for colon cancer and pancreatic cancer in 1999 and 2009, and in 2019, she had a malignant tumor removed.
“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam,” she said in a statement in July. “I remain fully able to do that.”
A number of congressional tributes across the political spectrum poured in as news of her death spread.
“It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Justice Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer who possessed tremendous passion for her causes. She served with honor and distinction as a member of the Supreme Court,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said in a statement honoring Ginsburg. “While I had many differences with her on legal philosophy, I appreciate her service to our nation. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. May she Rest In Peace.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Ginsburg would “want us all to fight as hard as we can to preserve her legacy,” added that he doesn’t think a replacement should be named until after the election.
“The Supreme Court’s most valiant lady is gone. Rest in peace, Ruth,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin.
Born in 1933, she graduated from Cornell University and went on to attend Harvard Law School, where she was one of nine women in her class. She became the first female member of the Harvard Law Review. Ginsburg ultimately transferred from Harvard to Columbia Law School after her husband, Martin, whom she married in 1954, accepted a job at a law firm in New York City.
After earning her law degree from Columbia in 1959, Ginsburg struggled to find a job. But she was ultimately hired as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Edmund Palmieri.
Ginsburg then worked as a professor at Rutgers University Law School, where she was one of two female professors, before leaving to join the faculty of Columbia in 1972. At Columbia, Ginsburg was the first female professor to earn tenure.
Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.
