Ruth Bader Ginsburg Will Skip Oral Arguments Due to Lung Cancer Recovery

She is infamous for sleeping during oral arguments. And State of the Union addresses.

As she's recovering from having cancerous nodes removed from her lungs, she's going to relax a bit and skip the napping at work.*

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments Monday as she recuperates from cancer surgery.

It's not clear when the 85-year-old justice will return to work, though the Supreme Court’s public information office said she will continue to participate in official business from her home in Washington.

Despite Ginsburg's absence, a Court spokeswoman said the justice would participate in Monday’s cases by reading transcripts of the proceedings, then voting as normal.

Monday is the first time that Ginsburg has missed arguments since she joined the high court in 1993.

We're not there yet, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg may start taking off more and more days and merely occupying a Supreme Court chair rather than working in it.

Like I said, we're not there yet. But at some point it might turn into a political issue that must be forced. You can't actually force a Justice off the court, save for impeachment, but at some point it may be necessary to bring whatever political pressure we have to bear.

* I should talk, I know.

posted by Ace of Spades at 05:28 PM

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