US Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg undergoes non-surgical procedure
Xinhua
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WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Wednesday underwent a "minimally invasive non-surgical procedure" to revise a bile duct stent placed last summer, according to a court spokesperson.

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File photo: VCG

Ginsburg, 87, is expected to be released from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City by the end of the week, the spokesperson said in a statement.

"The Justice is resting comfortably," the statement read. "According to her doctors, stent revisions are common occurrences and the procedure, performed using endoscopy and medical imaging guidance, was done to minimize the risk of future infection."

The procedure came after Ginsburg announced earlier this month a recurrence of liver cancer and that she began a course of chemotherapy in May.

"Immunotherapy first essayed proved unsuccessful," Ginsburg said in a statement on July 17. "The chemotherapy course, however, is yielding positive results."

A liberal nominated by then U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg is the court's eldest justice.

The U.S. Supreme Court now has a 5-4 majority of Republican-appointed justices, and a vacancy could allow President Donald Trump to nominate a conservative replacement.

U.S. Supreme Court justices have life tenure, and so they serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office.