Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday completed three weeks of radiation treatment for a malignant tumor on her pancreas, the Supreme Court announced.
The treatment, conducted on an outpatient basis at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, was to combat a tumor that was detected in early July during a routine blood test. A stent was also inserted into her bile duct as part of the treatment.
“The Justice tolerated treatment well,” the Supreme Court said in a statement. “The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.”
{mosads}The court added that Ginsburg will “continue to have periodic blood tests and scans” and that no further treatment is currently required.
Ginsburg, 86, has sat on the court’s nine-member bench for 26 years and is its oldest serving justice. She has struggled with bouts of cancer during her tenure, undergoing surgery in 1999 for colorectal cancer, a procedure for pancreatic cancer in 2009 and another operation to remove two malignant nodules in her lungs in December.
Affectionately referred to as “RBG” by supporters, Ginsburg has emerged as a cultural icon for liberals who see her as a a bulwark against President Trump’s efforts to install more conservative justices.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh were confirmed to the Supreme Court under Trump, giving it a more conservative tilt.
Updated at 3:07 p.m.