Ruth Bader Ginsburg has malignant growths removed from lungs

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Dec. 21, 2018 / 5:44 PM GMT / Updated 6:06 PM GMT

By Dareh Gregorian and Katy Tur

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery Friday morning to have cancerous growths removed from her lung, the Supreme Court press office said.

Ginsburg, 85, underwent a pulmonary lobectomy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the court said. Two nodules were found in her left lung after she underwent tests following a fall that fractured three of her ribs on Nov. 7.

Both “nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant on initial pathology evaluation,” the court added, but there “was no evidence of any remaining disease.”

“Scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Currently, no further treatment is planned,” the court said. “Justice Ginsburg is resting comfortably and is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days.”

Ginsburg was spotted flying to New York from Washington on the Delta Shuttle on Thursday night. She was walking on her own and spent the entire flight working.

Ginsburg, the court’s oldest serving justice, was nominated in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton.

Affectionately known as RBG, Ginsburg has suffered from a number of serious health problems while on the bench.

She has survived both colon and pancreatic cancer, and had a heart stent procedure in 2014. Despite all her health problems, Ginsburg has never missed Supreme Court arguments in her more than 25 years on the bench, The Associated Press reported.

Ginsburg said earlier this year that she has no intention of retiring in the near future, telling CNN in August that, “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years.”

Ginsburg’s husband, Martin, died from cancer in 2010. He was 78.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.