Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed arguments Monday for the first time in her 25 years on the bench as she recovers from cancer surgery last month.
Chief Justice John Roberts said “Justice Ginsburg is unable to be present today” when the court convened.
But the 85-year-old Ginsburg, sometimes referred to as the “Notorious RBG,” is working from home, participating by reading the briefs, filings and transcripts of the arguments, Roberts and court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.
It’s not certain when she would return to the court, which has scheduled arguments for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ginsburg, appointed in 1993 by President Clinton, was released from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on Christmas Day after having surgery Dec. 21 to remove two cancerous nodules from her left lung and is recuperating at home.
The court at the time said there are no indications the disease spread or remains in her body and that no other treatment had been planned.
The growths were discovered when the Brooklyn native went to the hospital after falling at her office on Nov. 7 and was treated for three broken ribs.
She remained hospitalized the following day and missed the investiture ceremony of new Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Despite two previous bouts with cancer in 1999 and 2009, Ginsburg didn’t miss oral arguments.
She also attended a session of the court the day after her husband, Martin, died of cancer in June 2010.
Ginsburg, who still exercises with a trainer twice a week and is the subject of two movies, said last July that she intends to stay on the bench until she turns 90.
“My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five more years,” she said.
With Post wires