Ginsburg aiming for 5 more years on US Supreme Court

85-year-old justice hopes to serve until she is 90, says counting on political ‘pendulum’ to swing back gives her hope

By JTA 30 July 2018, 7:34 pm

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US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg prepares to administer the Oath of Allegiance to candidates for US citizenship at the New-York Historical Society in New York City, on April 10, 2018. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images via JTA)

United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she hopes to remain on the court for another five years.

“I’m now 85,” Ginsburg said, according to CNN. “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five more years.”

Ginsburg made the statement on Sunday night in New York during a discussion following a production of “The Originalist,” a play about the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

When asked in October at an event sponsored by Equal Justice Works in Arlington, Virginia, if she was contemplating retirement, Ginsburg said, “As long as I can do the job full steam, I will do it,” CNN reported.

Ginsburg, who this year is marking her 25th anniversary on the Supreme Court, has hired law clerks for the next two terms, taking her at least through 2020.

Asked Sunday night by “The Originalist” director Molly Smith what keeps her “hopeful,” Ginsburg quoted her late husband, Marty.

“My dear spouse would say that the true symbol of the United States is not the bald eagle — it is the pendulum. And when it goes very far in one direction, you can count on its swinging back,” she said.

Ginsburg has survived colon and pancreatic cancer while serving on the court.