Bill O’Reilly is under fire for responding to news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had cancerous nodules removed by appearing to predict that the Supreme Court Justice will die soon and calling it “bad news for the left.”
O’Reilly’s tweet came in response to a report on Friday that Ginsburg had a procedure at a New York hospital to remove nodules from her left lung. As CNN reported, doctors found no evidence that the disease remained after the procedure and they did not find it anywhere else in her body. The procedure came weeks after Ginsburg was hospitalized after a fall in her office left her with three fractured ribs.
While many have reached out to express sympathies and wish Ginsburg well in her recovery, conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly offered a more dire view, appearing to predict that she could soon die and that it would swing the Supreme Court further to the right.
“Justice Ginsburg is very ill. Another Justice appointment inevitable and soon,” he wrote. “Bad news for the left.”
The tweet referenced two previous Supreme Court appointments for Donald Trump, including one for the seat held over after the death of Antonin Scalia in 2016. Republicans in the Senate refused to consider a nomination from President Barack Obama, saying they would not fill the seat during an election year, and Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch last year.
Justice Ginsburg is very ill. Another Justice appointment inevitable and soon. Bad news for the left.
— Bill O’Reilly (@BillOReilly) December 21, 2018
The tweet led to a backlash against O’Reilly, with many slamming it as insensitive and callous. Others pointed out that it did not appear to be correct given the good prognosis from doctors.
This is not how a healthy human being talks about a fellow human being.
You are sick, dude, which is why you had to pay millions of dollars to the females who were unfortunate to work for you. https://t.co/ASwPqZuhC0
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 21, 2018
What an awful thing to say.
My best wishes and hopes to Justice RBG for her swift recovery. As she has shown again and again, she is tough as nails. https://t.co/CNJS9f0fVi
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) December 21, 2018
Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t share Bill O’Reilly’s dire prediction about her health. Reports on Friday indicated that she is resting comfortably after the procedure and is expected to be back on her feet soon. She had already hired law clerks for the next two terms, and said recently that she had no plans to leave the bench anytime soon.
“I said I will do this job as long as I can do it full steam,” Ginsburg said at the New York premiere of the movie, On the Basis of Sex , which shows her years as a young lawyer.
The Supreme Court says Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery to remove two malignant growths from her left lung. The court says doctors found “no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.” The court says no additional treatment is planned currently. https://t.co/3ZKXoC1S6i
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 21, 2018
It was believed that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fall may have helped doctors find her nodules. CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta said that given the amount of time between her fall in November and the procedure this week, it seems that doctors did not believe the situation was very urgent and could bode well for her long-term prognosis.
