NOMINATIONS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House is reaching out to political allies and conservative activist groups to prepare for an ailing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s possible death or departure from the Supreme Court — an event that would trigger the second bitter confirmation battle of President Donald Trump’s tenure. The outreach began after Ginsburg, 85, on Monday [1-7-19] missed oral arguments at the court for the first time in her 25 years on the bench. The justice, who was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, announced in late December that she underwent a surgical procedure to remove two cancerous growths from her lungs…Ginsburg had a pulmonary lobectomy, the Supreme Court said in a statement, and her doctors said that post-surgery there was no evidence of any remaining disease.’ She has also recovered from several past health scares. But her departure from the Court would allow Trump to nominate a third Supreme Court justice — the most in one presidential term since President Ronald Reagan placed three judges on the highest court during his second term.”
–Eliana Johnson and Gabby Orr, “Trump White House urging allies to prepare for possible RBG departure,” Politico, January 10, 2019 4:05 pm