WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in the hospital after falling in her office Wednesday night, the Court announced in a statement on Thursday.
Ginsburg, 85, went home after the fall but continued to experience "discomfort overnight" and went to George Washington Hospital early Thursday. Tests revealed she fractured three ribs and she "was admitted for observation and treatment," according to the statement.
Ginsburg, the court's senior justice, has served on the court for more than 25 years after being appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993. She is considered one of the court's more liberal justices.
She wrote the first opinion of the Supreme Court’s term this year on age discrimination. The action marked the third consecutive year in which Ginsburg has authored the first opinion of the term. Chief Justice John Roberts has remarked in the past about Ginsburg’s speedy delivery of opinions.
Earlier this year, Ginsburg said she intended to stay on the bench for at least five more years.
"I'm now 85," Ginsburg said in July, according to CNN. "My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years."
Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014.
In recent years, she has gained celebrity status among progressives – who lovingly refer to her as the "Notorious RBG" – and was the subject a recent documentary, "RBG."
Contributing: Richard Wolf, USA TODAY and Associated Press
