Story highlights
- Ginsburg, 83, did not say if she would retire or not
Washington (CNN)As a moderator introduced Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Washington on Monday for her first post-election speaking engagement, he said something that caused the sympathetic audience to whoop and holler.
"May you live a thousand years!" he said.
Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
The only women who have become Supreme Court justices pose in the Justices' Conference Room on October 1, 2010, the day of Justice Elena Kagan's investiture. Standing, from left to right, are retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. These images are part of a collection from the book "My Own Words" by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams, published by Simon & Schuster.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Photograph of Ruth Bader taken when she was 2 years old.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Professional bridal photograph of Ruth Bader taken in June 1954.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Columbia Law Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, photographed in the spring of 1980 shortly after President Jimmy Carter nominated her for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her husband, Martin Ginsburg, and their children, James and Jane, off the shore of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in December 1979.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Marty Ginsburg travel by bus from Charles de Gaulle Airport to downtown Paris, circa 1988.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Justice Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg pose on an elephant in Rajistan during their tour of India in 1994.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg held basketballs that they received as gifts from the United States women's Olympic basketball team during the team's visit to the court on December 6, 1995.
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Photos: Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the years
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg works out on an elliptical during a training session at the Supreme Court, sporting her "Super Diva" sweatshirt on August 30, 2007.
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Ginsburg's future was on the minds of many in the audience during a meeting sponsored by The Jewish Federations. Donald Trump's unexpected victory at the polls means that if anything were to happen to the 83-year-old justice in the next few years, she might be replaced by a conservative.
The moderator, lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, asked her what the election meant.
Ginsburg, treading carefully, responded, "most immediately a vacancy will be filled." And then she repeated something she said even before the election when Senate Republicans blocked the nomination hearings of President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland.
"Eight is not a good number for a multi-member court," she said.
She also suggested perhaps the legislative branch get moving again. "There is an existing vacancy and President Trump will fill it. Then, perhaps Congress will do some work. One reason the court has not had as many petitions as usual is that there hasn't been any legislative activity," Ginsburg said.
Trump's election and actions by Senate Republicans will have a critical impact on the court, which will likely maintain its conservative majority for years to come. It will also mean that Ginsburg will remain in the minority on some social issues that closely divide the justices.
Some liberals have questioned whether Ginsburg should have stepped down during the Obama administration. In 2014, Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, suggested in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that she step down in order to "advance all the things she has spent her life working for." But she did not heed that advice.
And now, the liberal icon who has inspired generations of young lawyers for her early work on gender discrimination, will likely seek to stay on the bench at least until a Democratic president wins an election.
That will keep her in the spotlight -- something she has dominated like no other sitting justice.
On "Saturday Night Live," for example, Ginsburg has been the subject of a recurring comedy sketch.
Just last weekend actress Kate McKinnon, who plays the justice, joked about the fact that Ginsburg's plans might have suddenly changed.
"You're damn right I was gonna retire," McKinnon/Ginsburg said. She then proceeded to pour vitamins down her throat.
The real Justice Ginsburg, who is a devoted opera fan, had her own appearance Saturday night. She joined the opening night cast of "The Daughter of the Regiment" at the Washington National Opera, playing the Duchess of Krakenthorp in a non-speaking role.
At the curtain call, she wore her costume -- a shimmering acid green dress -- and she curtsied.
With a broad smile, she looked ready for an encore.
