US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died

Washington: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal on the US Supreme Court since 1993, died at age 87, the court said, giving President Donald Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America with a presidential election looming.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.Credit: AP

Ginsburg, a champion of women's rights who became an icon for American liberals, died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said in a statement. She was surrounded by her family, it said.

Her departure could dramatically alter the ideological balance of the court, which currently has a 5-4 conservative majority, by moving it further to the right.

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

Trump, seeking re-election on November 3, already has appointed two conservatives to lifetime posts on the court, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Supreme Court appointments require Senate confirmation, and Trump's fellow Republicans control the chamber.

A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, the court said, but did not specify a date.

Supreme Court justices, who receive lifetime appointments, play an enormous role in shaping US policies on hot-button issues like abortion, LGBT rights, gun rights, religious liberty, the death penalty and presidential powers. For example, the court in 1973 legalised abortion nationwide - a decision that some conservatives are eager to overturn - and in 2015 allowed same-sex marriage across the United States.

Ginsburg, who rose from a working class upbringing in New York City's borough of Brooklyn and prevailed over systematic sexism in the legal ranks to become one of America's best-known jurists, was appointed to the Supreme Court by Democratic president Bill Clinton in 1993. She provided key votes in landmark rulings securing equal rights for women, expanding gay rights and safeguarding abortion rights.

Ginsburg had experienced a series of health issues including bouts with pancreatic cancer in 2019 and lung cancer in 2018, a previous bout with pancreatic cancer in 2009 and colon cancer in 1999. She disclosed on July 17 this year that she had a recurrence of cancer.

She was the oldest member of the court and the second-longest serving among its current justices behind Clarence Thomas. She was the second woman ever named to the court, after Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed 12 years earlier.

"Today, our nation mourns the loss of a titan of the law," Trump said in a statement, adding that Ginsburg's decisions "have inspired all Americans, and generations of great legal minds".

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called on Ginsburg to resign and said "her mind is shot" after she criticised him in media interviews. He did not mention any potential plans about nominating a replacement.

The Senate confirmation battle over a Trump nominee to replace Ginsburg is likely to be fierce - at a time of social unrest in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic - though Democrats lack the votes to block him unless some Republican senators join them.

Trump, who as a presidential candidate in 2016 called on Ginsburg to resign after she criticised him in media interviews, will get a chance to reshape the court like no other president since Ronald Reagan, who made three appointments during his eight years in office in the 1980s, moving the court to the right.

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden voiced opposition to Trump sending a nominee to the Senate before the election, saying the winner should get to select Ginsburg's replacement.

"There is no doubt - let me be clear - that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider," Biden told reporters in Delaware.

Reuters