Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Back on the Bench, and Seems as Healthy as Ever

Photo credit: JIM WATSON - Getty Images
Photo credit: JIM WATSON - Getty Images

From Town & Country


After a prolonged absence from the bench, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back at work.

The Justice had to miss oral arguments in court for the first time in her 25 years on the Supreme Court, due to a recent medical problem. Ginsburg had surgery to remove cancerous nodes in her lung this past December. Her doctors have since reported that she's cancer-free, but she still had to recover at home for a time. And according to NPR, she's been doing everything she can to get better, including walking over a mile a day and exercising with a trainer twice a week.

It seems to have paid off, as Ginsburg appeared to be well on Tuesday. NPR reported that she asked questions with "a firm and strong voice."

Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images
Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images

NPR also noticed that Ginsburg made a point to show her strength. When she was going down the steps from the bench, Chief Justice Roberts was clearly ready to assist, but she made it down all on her own.

Just because she's been out of the office, though, doesn't mean Ginsburg hasn't been hard at work. This morning, she read an opinion that she'd been working on at home. The case was concerned with the Constitution's clause banning excessive fines, and in her opinion, Ginsburg explained that the ban applied to states and other local governments, in addition to the federal government. "For good reason, the protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history: Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties," she wrote, per CNN.

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