This Grandmother Needs Our Prayers

January 15: Obama, Biden meet with Ginsburg and other justices

No one -- well, hardly anyone -- would wish cancer on someone, let alone a recurrence that has prompted surgery and hospitalization for a tiny and frail 75-year-old grandmother. We are talking about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a key vote in what has come to be known as the moderate liberal wing of a Supreme Court that has lurched far to the right of the mainstream and could end up being more obstructionist to the Obama agenda than the Republican insurgency . . . er, minority.

Justice Ginsburg was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatments without missing a single day on the bench. During a routine checkup last month, a CAT scan revealed a cancerous tumor in her pancreas and she underwent surgery on Thursday.

Pancreatic cancer has an extremely high mortality rate, although doctors say they are optimistic because the tumor was discovered in a very early stage. (Apple guru Steve Jobs and actor Patrick Swayze also are battling this rare cancer.)

Ginsburg is expected to remain in the hospital for seven to 10 days, while the court next hears arguments on February 23 which, if well enough, she can participate in through an audio hook-up.

Ginsburg was appointed to the court in 1993 by President Clinton, ending a 26-year gap during which no Democratic president made an appointment to the high court. Extraordinarily, the last justice named by a Democratic president before her was Thurgood Marshall, appointed by President Johnson in 1967. Clinton also appointed liberal Stephen G. Breyer in 1994.

With Ginsburg's health again an issue and talk of moderate liberal Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter wanting to retire, it is possible that President Obama could nominate three new justices, certainly among the most important appointments he would make because of the Supreme Court's marked shift to the right accelerated by the retirement of moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor because of her husband's poor health.

The retirement of O'Connor and death of moderate Chief Justice William Rehnquist within a few weeks of each other in 2005 left President George W. Bush with two seats to fill.

He nominated longtime aide and lightweight Harriet Miers to replace O'Connor, but her name was withdrawn amidst widespread opposition from across the political spectrum, notably from right-wing Christianists who resented being played for suckers.

Bush then nominated conservative John G. Roberts as O'Connor's replacement, but withdrew the nomination after the death of Rehnquist and renominated him as chief justice. Bush also nominated conservative Samuel Alito, while his father, George H.W. Bush, had chosen Souter and conservative Clarence Thomas. And so the Bushes have left a mark on the court to an extraordinary extent that will be felt for many years to come.

Ginsburg is "a small woman with very big shoes," as one legal analyst aptly puts it.

Prior to her ascendancy to the top court as the second woman justice, Ginsburg was a leading courtroom advocate for women's rights, and her incremental litigation strategy invited comparisons to Marshall, who had been the architect of the civil rights movement's legal attack on discrimination before joining the court.

Should Ginsburg be forced to retire, the court's precarious balance probably would not change.

As it stands now, the court is balanced between four conservatives and four moderate liberals with moderate-conservative Anthony Kennedy the deciding vote in hotly contested cases.

Whomever Obama names to replace Ginsburg is sure to be a moderate liberal if not an outright liberal. (God, how I hate labels!) It will be bitterly contested by Republicans and likely will be a woman.