Ginsburg’s liver cancer — and recent repeat trips to the hospital due to bile duct infection — has Washington’s political class on tenterhooks, with her every medical procedure causing major hand-wringing, not to mention a variety of contingency plans.
Ginsburg was hospitalized yet again on Wednesday to “revise a bile duct stent,” as her doctors assured the public that such things were “common occurrences.”
Should the 87-year-old, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy, leave the bench, US President Donald Trump would move quickly to name a successor, with the Republican-led Senate likely to confirm the nomination in equally record speed as the November 3 election draws near.
This would cement a conservative majority on the court, which has final say on a number of the touchiest subjects dividing America — from abortion to fire arms, civil rights to the death penalty.