Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Pioneering Justice on Supreme Court, Dies at 87

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneering figure in the fight for women’s legal equality and the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died Friday in her Washington home, surrounded by her family. She succumbed to metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87, the Supreme Court said.

“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague,” said Chief Justice John Roberts. “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.”

Cast by seniority to lead the high court’s liberal bloc, the 1993 Clinton appointee spent her last years on the bench pushing back against an emboldened conservative majority, sometimes winning surprise victories or mitigating expected defeats by peeling off a vote from conservatives including Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh.