INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Recovering After Heart Surgery

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 03:56 PST, Nov 26, 2014

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent heart surgery on Wednesday morning, after she experienced discomfort while exercising.

Ginsburg reportedly had a stent placed in her right coronary artery, according to NBC News. After Justice Ginsburg felt discomfort on Tuesday night, a blockage was discovered, and she was treated at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Justice Ginsburg was resting comfortably after the procedure, and is expected to be discharged within 48 hours.

As CNN notes, Ginsburg was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice in 1993. Since then, she has been treated for both colon cancer and pancreatic cancer. For the past several years, Justice Ginsburg has worked out with a personal trainer at the Supreme Court gym. According to a court official, it was there that Ginsburg first noticed the discomfort.

In an Update at 10:57 a.m. ET., NPR reported that Ginsburg was awake after the procedure and demanding work. NPR’s Nina Totenberg related that Ginsburg intends to return to work next week. She also observed that many people have stents placed in their heart and successfully recover from the procedure.

“This is another indicator of how fragile life can be at when you are 81,” she added.

Ginsburg has repeatedly pushed back at those who have urged her to step down from the Supreme Court while President Obama is still in office, assuring that her seat would remain occupied by a liberal justice. Earlier this year, Ginsburg stated that she would remain as long as she felt up to the demands of her job.

“Right now, I don’t see any sign that I’m less able to do the job,” she told the Associated Press.

In an interview with Joan Biskupic of Reuters, a longtime Supreme Court reporter, Justice Ginsburg noted that if she had resigned over the summer, President Obama would likely have chosen a compromise candidate to fill the vacancy.

“So tell me who the president could have nominated this spring that you would rather have on the court than me,” she said.

As the Inquisitr previously noted, Ginsburg issued a 35-page dissent against the court’s decision in the case of Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. earlier this year.

[Image via the Huffington Post]

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