(CNN) —
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated for pancreatic cancer in New York City, the Supreme Court announced Friday.
“The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body,” the court said.
This is the 86-year-old liberal icon’s fourth bout with cancer. In 1999, she successfully underwent surgery to treat colon cancer. She was treated for early stages of pancreatic cancer in 2009. Last December, Ginsburg underwent surgery to remove two cancerous nodules from her left lung.
Ginsburg, who inspired the meme ‘Notorious RBG’ and was the subject of a documentary and feature film in recent years, missed oral arguments for the first time earlier this year while recovering, but participated in rulings via court transcripts and in writing.
Ginsburg’s health has long been an issue. The oldest Supreme Court justice, Ginsburg leads the liberal wing on the court which is currently outnumbered 5-4 by conservatives.
A three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy began on August 5, the court said. A tumor was first detected after a blood test in July and a biopsy was performed as well.
“The Justice tolerated treatment well,” the court said. “No further treatment is needed at this time.”
Despite her recent health scare, Ginsburg has made a series of public appearances and continues to travel. She attended a legal conference in Lisbon this summer, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who died soon after returning. She attended the Broadway showing of “Moulin Rouge” Thursday night and is scheduled to speak in Buffalo, New York, next week.
Asked late last month about any retirement plans, Ginsburg said: “I’ve always said I’ll stay on this job as long as I can do it full steam.”
At her age, she assesses that each year: “I was OK this last term. I expect to be OK next term. And after that we’ll just have to see.”
Ginsburg also underwent a heart procedure in 2014 to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery.
An appointee by Democratic President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg was confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 1993 and took her oath for the Supreme Court a week later. She was the second woman ever appointed to America’s highest court, after Sandra Day O’Connor, who served from 1981 to 2006.
Ginsburg, a former women’s rights lawyer who argued six groundbreaking cases before the justices early in her career, enhanced her reputation as a supporter of women’s rights on the bench. Over time, she also wrote opinions advancing broader civil rights and liberties.
She became the leader of the left wing when Stevens retired in 2010. Under court tradition, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the opinion for the court and the most senior justice among dissenters chooses who writes the main dissenting opinion.
In 2013, Ginsburg’s dissent for the liberals in Shelby County v. Holder, when the majority curtailed the reach of the Voting Rights Act, went viral on social media. It inspired the “Notorious RBG” meme, which has stuck as RBG has become the subject of books, films and assorted mementos.
Her workout routine is also well-known and even the subject of a book by her trainer, Bryant Johnson.
In the courtroom setting this year, Ginsburg has seemed determined not to flag. In June, after returning from a New York trip with a serious case of laryngitis, she insisted on reading lengthy excerpts from an opinion for the majority in a Virginia racial gerrymander dispute.
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Photos: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Washington in 2013. She was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
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Supreme Court of the United States
Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933. Here she is at 2 years old.
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A photo of Ginsburg from her high school yearbook.
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Courtesy of Joan and Stuart Danoff
Ginsburg, 13, sits immediately to the left of Rabbi Harry Halpern at the East Midwood Jewish Center, a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946.
Photos: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Ginsburg and her cousin Richard ski at a lodge in the Adirondacks circa 1946.
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Courtesy of Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
Ginsburg is the maid of honor at a cousin's wedding in 1951.
Photos: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Courtesy of Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
Ginsburg met her husband, Martin, while attending Cornell University, and both went on to study law. The couple were engaged in December 1953.
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Courtesy of Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
Ginsburg and her husband married in June 1954. She was 21 at the time.
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Courtesy of Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
The couple went on to have two children: Jane, born in 1955, and James, born in 1965.
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A portrait of Ginsburg from 1977. At the time, she was a professor at the Columbia University School of Law. She was also a general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
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Courtesy of Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
Ginsburg is joined by family members on the steps of the US Supreme Court after arguing a case there in November 1978. With Ginsburg, from left, are her brother-in-law Ed Stiepleman; her nephew David Stiepleman; and her son, James.
Photos: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Ginsburg was the first woman to be hired with tenure at the Columbia University School of Law. She also taught at the Rutgers University School of Law.
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Ginsburg, her husband and their two children -— James and Jane — pose for a photo off the shore of St. Thomas in 1979.
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In 1980, US President Jimmy Carter nominated Ginsburg to be a judge for the US Court of Appeals' District of Columbia Circuit.
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Ginsburg in her chambers at the US Courthouse in Washington.
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Dennis Cook/AP
Ginsburg, her husband and their children vacation in Egypt in 1985.
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Justice Ginsburg's Personal Collection
Ginsburg and her husband take a bus to Paris circa 1988.
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Ginsburg reads to a group of children at the 10th anniversary of the TV show "Reading Rainbow" in 1993.
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President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the US Supreme Court in June 1993. Here, Ginsburg is holding a photograph of Hillary Clinton singing "the toothbrush song" with Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara and her nursery school class.
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Ginsburg talks with a reporter after being nominated for the Supreme Court in 1993. On the far right is US Sen. Joe Biden. US Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is wearing the bowtie.
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Ginsburg is greeted by her husband during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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During her confirmation hearing, Ginsburg holds up a book titled "My Grandma is Very Special." It was written by Paul Spera, her grandson.
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Ginsburg takes the Supreme Court oath from Chief Justice William Rehnquist, right, in August 1993. Joining them were Clinton and Martin Ginsburg.
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From the steps of the Supreme Court, Rehnquist introduces Ginsburg to the press in October 1993.
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Ginsburg poses with family members at the Supreme Court in October 1993. With Ginsburg, from left, are her son-in-law, George Spera; her daughter, Jane; her granddaughter Clara Spera; her husband, Martin; her son, James; and her grandson Paul Spera.
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Ginsburg and her husband embrace while attending an event. The two were married for nearly 60 years. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010.
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Supreme Court of the United States
This informal group photo was taken of the US Supreme Court in December 1993. From left are Clarence Thomas, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ginsburg and Harry Blackmun.
