One can only hope that Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) horded the tasteless Intrade contract for “Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Be Next Justice to Depart US Supreme Court,” looking to cash in on his classy prediction that the Justice would be dead in nine months.

I think everyone-except Bunning, that is–breathed a collective sigh of relief when USAToday yesterday published a deeply comforting article addressing the progress of Justice Ginsburg’s recovery. It began:

One month after her surgery for pancreatic cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Thursday she expects to be on the Supreme Court for several more years. In an interview, she also vividly recalled why, on her second day back on the bench, she attended President Obama’s televised speech to a joint session of Congress.
“First, I wanted people to see that the Supreme Court isn’t all male,” the lone female justice said of the evening event Feb. 24. ‘I also wanted them to see I was alive and well, contrary to that senator [Bunning] who said I’d be dead within nine months.”

But what I really found interesting was another comment parsed from the interview with Ginsburg, which took place in her chambers this past Thursday:

Ginsburg made clear Thursday she has not retreated from her oft-stated goal of matching the tenure of Justice Louis Brandeis, who served from 1916 to 1939. She joined the court at 60, at about the same age as Brandeis did. He served until age 82.

Everyone is wishing all the best for Justice Ginsburg; she even got one letter that said simply: “I don’t agree with any of your opinions, but I hope you get well soon.” But beyond our wishes there are the statistics. And they suggest we’re all in store for at least a couple more years of Justice Ginsburg’s trademark brand of responsible yet fiery jurisprudence, Insha’Allah .