US News

Ruth Bader Ginsburg misses oral arguments due to illness

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was out sick on Wednesday and missed oral arguments.

The 86-year-old, four-time cancer survivor stayed home because of a stomach bug, said court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.

Chief Justice John Roberts said Ginsburg was “indisposed due to illness” but that she would take part in the decisions of the two cases being argued.

The Brooklyn-born justice and senior liberal on the bench underwent a three-week course of radiation treatment in Manhattan beginning Aug. 5, for a malignant tumor on her pancreas.

She missed two weeks of oral arguments in January after she underwent surgery to remove two cancerous growth from her lungs in late December. That was her first time missing oral arguments since her appointment in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton.

Ginsburg also had two previous bouts with cancer in 1999 and 2009.

Her health has been in the spotlight, as her retirement or death could potentially give President Trump his third Supreme Court pick on a bench where the conservative majority stands at 5-4.

Justice Clarence Thomas, 71, was out sick, likely with the flu, Oct. 7, when the nation’s highest court opened its new term after a three-month break.

With Post wires