Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Discharged From Hospital After Medical Procedure

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks onstage at the Fourth Annual Berggruen Prize Gala celebrating 2019 Laureate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg In New York City, N.Y., on Dec. 16, 2019. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Berggruen Institute

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been discharged from a hospital after being treated for a possible infection, a Supreme Court spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The 87-year-old justice was at “home and doing well,” the spokesperson said.

Ginsburg was expected to stay in the hospital for a few days after undergoing a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean a bile duct stent. The stent was inserted last August when she was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas.

The latest health-related event for the court’s oldest justice started when she went to a hospital in Washington late on Monday after experiencing fever and chills, the court said.

Ginsburg, who has had a series of health scares, has been treated four times for cancer—most recently in August 2019—when she underwent radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer.

In December 2018, Ginsburg had two cancerous growths removed from her left lung. The justice was previously treated for pancreatic cancer in 2009 and colon cancer in 1999.

Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court in 1993 as an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton. Ginsburg said she would like to serve until she’s 90 if her health allows.

Her most recent hospital stay was in May when she had an infection caused by a gallstone. While in the hospital, she continued to participate remotely in the court’s oral arguments.

Justices had cancelled courtroom arguments in favor of telephone sessions because of the pandemic caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, when asked by reporters on Wednesday about the possibility of a vacancy on the court before the election, said that President Donald Trump would act quickly.

“I can’t imagine if he had a vacancy on the Supreme Court that he would not very quickly [to] make the appointment and look for the Senate to take quick action.

“That being said, we’re glad Ruth Bader Ginsburg is out of hospital,” he said, adding he didn’t want any comment to be seen “as we wish her anything but the very best.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that if there were to be a vacancy on the court during this year’s election cycle, the Republican-controlled Senate would likely confirm a nominee selected by Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.