Ginsburg once again in hospital
Democrats press for addition of high court plans to platform
WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was being treated for a possible infection and was expected to stay in the hospital for a few days following a medical procedure, the Supreme Court said in a statement Tuesday.
The court said that the 87-year-old Ginsburg went to a hospital in Washington on Monday evening after experiencing fever and chills.
She then underwent a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed in August, when she was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas.
The statement said the justice
“is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”
Ginsburg spent a night in the hospital in May with an infection caused by a gallstone. While in the hospital, she participated in arguments the court heard by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton and joined the court in 1993, has been treated four times for cancer. In addition to the tumor on her pancreas last year, she was previously treated for colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009. She had lung surgery to remove cancerous growths in December 2018.
Speaking at a news conference in the Rose Garden on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump was asked about Ginsburg. He said he hadn’t heard that she was hospitalized.
“I wish her the best. I hope she’s better,” he said.
Meanwhile, liberal interest groups are intensifying pressure on Democrats to take aggressive measures to reshape the Supreme Court, arguing that the party should include such measures in its policy platform at next month’s convention.
Twenty-two Democratic-aligned groups signed a letter sent this week to the party’s platform committee stating that Democratic electoral victories by themselves won’t be enough.
“Failing to include any provision on Court reform in the Party platform would send Republicans the message that they can continue to break the rules to hijack our courts because Democrats will do nothing to reverse their illegitimate gains,” the letter reads.