Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87 from complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. She was surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C.
Ginsburg, known as RBG, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Up until January, the justice didn't miss a single day of work, a fact made all the more impressive because she's battled three kinds of cancer since her appointment. She was the first female Jewish justice and the second of four women ever on America's highest court.
Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn, got a bachelor's degree at Cornell and went to law school at Harvard and Columbia, where she graduated at the top of her class. From there, she taught at Rutgers and Columbia before President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1980. She was there until her appointment to the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice John Roberts commented on Ginsburg's passing saying, "Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tired and resolute champion of justice."
Ginsburg's death now gives President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint her successor. However, NPR reported that just days before her passing, she dictated a statement to her granddaughter saying, "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
Ginsburg made a name for herself with her fiery dissents, and in 2018, Felicity Jones starred as her in the biopic On The Basis Of Sex.
Ginsburg is survived by her daughter, Jane, and her son, James. Martin, her husband of 56 years, passed away in 2010.
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