Chief Justice John Roberts mourns the loss of 'cherished colleague' Ruth Bader Ginsburg, describes her as a 'tireless and resolute champion of justice'

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Chief Justice John Roberts mourns the loss of 'cherished colleague' Ruth Bader Ginsburg, describes her as a 'tireless and resolute champion of justice'
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in October 2019.Erin Clark for The Boston Globe via Getty
  • Chief Justice John Roberts described Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as "a tireless and resolute champion of justice" in response to her death Friday evening.
  • Ginsburg died Friday evening in her Washington, DC, home due to complications from cancer, the Supreme Court announced.
  • "Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature," Roberts said in the statement. "We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague."
  • After being nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg was only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and became a feminist icon and one of the most prominent Supreme Court justices in history.
  • Her death gives President Donald Trump a third opportunity to nominate a lifetime appointee to the nation's highest court, securing a conservative majority for decades to come.
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Chief Justice John Roberts described the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a "tireless and resolute champion of justice" as he mourned the loss of his "cherished colleague."

Ginsburg died at the age of 87 due to complications from cancer in her Washington, DC, home Friday evening, the Supreme Court announced in a statement.

"Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague," Roberts said in the statement. "Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice."

After being nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg was only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and became a feminist icon and one of the most prominent Supreme Court justices in history. Even before serving on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg worked as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union for nearly a decade, championing gender equality and women's rights.

She has had multiple types of cancer in the past two decades and hospitalized several times for treatment. Ginsburg has been public about her medical condition, though justices are not required to make their details about their health public.

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Her death gives President Donald Trump a third opportunity to nominate a lifetime appointee to the nation's highest court, securing a conservative majority for decades to come.

But just days before her death, Ginsburg dictated one of her last wishes to her granddaughter Clara Spera regarding who would fill her seat on the Supreme Court, according to NPR, which first reported the news of Ginsburg's death.

"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," she said, according to the NPR report.

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