U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg released from hospital after breaking ribs
Ginsburg fractured 3 ribs and was admitted to hospital Thursday
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been released from hospital, less than 48 hours after breaking three ribs in a fall, according to a court spokesperson.
According to Kathy Arberg, Ginsburg was released Friday, and was "doing well" and working from home.
Ginsburg, a ground-breaking liberal jurist who at 85 is the oldest justice on the top court, was hospitalized on Thursday after falling at her office at the court.
Ginsburg, who made her name as an advocate for women's rights, is one of four liberals sitting on the court. She was appointed in 1993 by then President Bill Clinton.
She went home after the fall Wednesday but experienced discomfort overnight and went to George Washington University Hospital on Thursday morning, Arberg said in a statement.
Tests showed Ginsburg fractured three ribs on her left side, and was admitted for observation and treatment, Arberg added.
If Ginsburg is ever unable to continue serving, President Donald Trump could replace her with a conservative, further shifting the court to the right. A potentially dominant 6-3 conservative majority would have major consequences for issues including abortion, the death penalty, voting rights, gay rights and religious liberty.
Oldest on the court
As the oldest justice, Ginsburg is closely watched for any signs of deteriorating health. She has bounced back from previous medical issues and has fallen twice before at her home, in 2012 and 2013, leading to rib injuries. She was treated in 1999 for colon cancer and again in 2009 for pancreatic cancer but did not miss any argument sessions either time.
In 2014, doctors placed a stent in her right coronary artery to improve blood flow after she reported discomfort following routine exercise. She was released from a hospital the next day.
Ginsburg's nephew joked about her resilience late Thursday at the Hollywood premiere of a film about her life.
"The last I heard she was up and working — of course, because what else would she be doing? — and cracking jokes," her nephew Daniel Stiepleman said at the premiere of On the Basis of Sex, about a gender-based discrimination case Ginsburg tried as a young lawyer in 1972.
"I can't promise they were good jokes, but they were jokes," said Stiepleman, who wrote the script for the film with input from the justice herself.