Ginsburg's Deathbed Wish: No Replacement Until 'New President'

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, just days before her death, dictated her "most fervent wish" — that she not be replaced until there is a "new president," NPR reported Friday night.

According to the news outlet, as her strength waned in her last days of life, she called on her granddaughter Clara Spera, to make her wish be known.

"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," she dictated to Spera, NPR reported.

Ginsburg's death will have profound consequences for the court and the country. Inside the court, not only is the leader of the liberal wing gone, but with the Court about to open a new term, Chief Justice John Roberts no longer holds the controlling vote in closely contested cases.

Though Roberts has a consistently conservative record in most cases, he has split from fellow conservatives in a few important ones, this year casting his vote with liberals, for instance, to at least temporarily protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation by the Trump administration, to uphold a major abortion precedent, and to uphold bans on large church gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. 

With Ginsburg's death, there is no clear court majority for those outcomes.

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