Ruth Bader Ginsburg is missing a Supreme Court hearing for the first time ever

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hasn't missed an oral argument in her 25 years on the bench — until today.

The 85-year-old justice is still recovering from her Dec. 21 surgery to remove two cancerous growths from her lungs. So she'll miss Monday's oral arguments and instead follow along via transcripts, The Washington Post's Robert Barnes reports.

Ginsburg was hospitalized and quickly returned to work after a fall in early November, though she missed the arrival of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Testing after the fall revealed the two nodes on her lungs. Ginsburg was released five days after the surgery, and has since been resting at home, the Supreme Court said at the time.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Ginsburg previously survived colon cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009. Until Monday, she'd never missed an oral argument since her appointment in 1993.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.