Ruth Bader Ginsburg's cancer has returned, still refuses to retire.

The Supreme Court. BBC/Getty.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's cancer has returned, but she still refuses to retire. BBC. Ginsburg has liver cancer and has known about it since May of this year. She is undergoing chemotherapy and says the lesions on her liver are shrinking. Ginsburg has many health scares in the past and has been able to continue working. However, the new health scare adds urgency to the 2020 election. Whichever party who takes the White House in 2020 will almost certainly have a chance to replace Ginsburg. That could either lead to the status quo 5-4 conservative edge or a 6-3 conservative court. 

My Comment:

It's amazing to me that Ginsburg is still alive. She's had multiple cancers and is 87. By any rights she should have passed years ago but she has held on, probably out of pure spite for President Trump. Though I don't respect her political or legal opinions at all, I do have to give her some respect for her ability to survive. 

Ginsburg has held on this long so I don't see her giving up until the elections of 2020 are decided. I am expecting that if Biden were to somehow win she probably will retire and enjoy the rest of her years. But if Trump wins (which I still think will happen) I am guessing she will try to hold on until 2024. That seems a lot more unlikely to work though as she would be 91 at that point and a cancer survivor. My guess is that RGB will be the next person to leave the court, barring something extremely unusual happening. 

If Ginsburg does die or retire before the end of Trump's Presidency, I don't think President Trump will try and placate Democrats by putting a liberal or moderate on the court. That could have been in the cards had they not done what they did to Brett Kavanaugh. The Democrats have shown that the gloves are off and there is no chance of a deal being made. 

Ginsburg's replacement will be considered an existential threat to both Republicans and Democrats, depending on who gets to replace her. For Democrats, if Ginsburg goes down her replacement will make it a 6-3 court for quite some time. And I am guessing that Clarence Thomas will retire as well to make sure that majority lasts for a long time. That means that the Supreme Court will remain a check on the left's power for a generation, regardless of what happens in Congress or the Presidency.

In theory, a liberal replacement for Justice Ginsburg would not be a big deal for Republicans. However, recent SCOTUS rulings show that the 5-4 majority is not as solid as they would hope. Chief Justice John Roberts has epically screwed over conservatives several times now, most notably on Obamacare and his complete refusal to take gun rights cases. Roberts main concern is the respectability of the court, not making good law. 

Regardless, I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg is probably the biggest argument for both President Trump and Joe Biden. Regardless what you think of the men themselves, people are going to want their party to have control of the Supreme Court and a Ginsburg vacancy will do that nicely. Though she will likely be fine in the short term, it's going to be a major reason why whoever wins in November does so.