It’s Official: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Now Cancer-Free

2020 has gotten off to a rough start. A quick recap: the House of Representatives voted to impeached President Trump, and he’s currently awaiting a Senate trial to deliberate his potential removal from office. Meanwhile, a Trump-ordered drone strike killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, which resulted in Iran striking back with missiles targeted at a U.S. base in Iraq, making many Americans are fearful about the possibility of war. And, on Wednesday, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced they would step back from their duties as senior members of the Royal Family. Not to mention, the entire world is grappling with the crisis of Australia's ongoing wildfires. It's a lot to take in less than two weeks into the new year, but in true form, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is here to brighten our year with this spectacular announcement: she is officially cancer-free.

The U.S. Supreme Court Justice told CNN this week that she’s in good health after years of struggling with pancreatic cancer and undergoing surgeries. According to the report, Ginsburg “has resumed an active role in oral arguments” and is feeling incredibly strong.

“I’m cancer free,” she said. “That’s good.” 

Very, very good, we would say. Ginsburg's news comes at the heels of a new report from the American Cancer Society that detail how cancer death rates are on a serious decline. At 86-years-old, Ginsburg is now a four-time cancer survivor, and remains a beacon of optimism in the impossibly tough times in American politics. 

This time last year, Ginsburg was in recovery for lung cancer surgery and as a result was out of court for several weeks. She was then treated for a cancerous tumour on her pancreas in August and resumed her court schedule as-planned. Just this past November, Ginsburg found herself in the hospital again — terrifying us all — for a possible infection, but she is now back in action and reportedly free of cancer concerns.

And, she's already weighing in on our various U.S. crises. Last month, she provided some RBG-style feedback regarding Trump's impeachment. “The president is not a lawyer, he’s not law-trained,” Ginsburg told the BBC when she accepted the Berggruen Prize for philosophy and culture. Now that is some prime-level shade. 

President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the nation’s highest court in 1993, and she's been a feminist icon and a force for women in America ever since, keeping the court from swaying over to a conservative majority. Her health, as such, has been a major topic for years. In 2019, she missed oral arguments for the first time due to her health.

Now that she's announced her official status as cancer-free, RBG fans can rest a little easier knowing that she’ll be present for the full roster of cases the court will hear in 2020. According to Politico, these include the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Affordable Care Act, abortion rights, and Trump’s financial records.