U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is recovering well after fracturing three ribs in a fall, her nephew told Reuters Thursday.
Ginsburg, 85, injured herself Wednesday in her office at the Supreme Court in Washington, and was taken to George Washington University Hospital for observation and treatment the next morning, the court said in a statement.
Daniel Stiepleman, her nephew and the scriptwriter for On the Basis of Sex – a new film about the early years of Ginsburg’s career as a lawyer – told Reuters she was “doing great” and had been making jokes.
“The last I heard she was up and working, of course, because what else would she be doing, and cracking jokes,” he said. “I can’t promise they were good jokes but they were jokes.”
Ginsburg’s is the Supreme Court’s oldest justice, and one of four judges considered to be liberal on the nine-seat court. She has survived two bouts of cancer, and in 2014 underwent a procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery. Were she to stand down due to poor health, it is likely President Donald Trump would replace her with a conservative justice, tipping the balance of the court even further to the right.
Upon hearing of Ms Ginsburg’s injuries, anxious liberals took to Twitter to volunteer their own ribs to help with her recovery.
“Where can I donate a rib, or three?” tweeted one RBG fan. “Asking for a Supreme Court justice.”
Ms Ginsburg’s fall meant that she missed the largely ceremonial swearing in of new Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who repeated the judicial oath Thursday in front of Trump and other government officials following his extremely partisan confirmation process.
