BREAKING: Ginsburg Treated for Cancer

Assocate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsbur underwent a procedure Friday to remove cancerous tissue from her lungs. The cancer was discover incidentally when she was hospitalized last month after falling and breaking her ribs. 

CBS has more:

Ginsburg, the eldest member of the court and the senior justice of its liberal wing, underwent a pulmonary lobectomy. Two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered “incidentally” during tests to treat rib fractures she sustained in a fall last month. Both nodules were found to be malignant during an initial evaluation.

Sloan Kettering describes a lobectomy as the most common operation for non-small cell lung cancer on its website. It is the best treatment for “isolated lung cancer in an otherwise healthy patient,” according to the hospital.

The news comes as Ginsburg is recovering from three rib fractures she sustained after falling in her office on Nov. 7. Ginsburg has quickly recovered from a number of health issues in recent years. The former ACLU litigator has survived multiple bouts with cancer, and in 2014 underwent a procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery.

The justice’s health is a matter of intense public concern because her retirement would likely enable President Donald Trump to name her replacement. Trump has named to justices to the bench, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The last president to nominate more than two justices to the bench was Ronald Reagan, who nominated three.