Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ruth Bader GinsburgTrump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance Fox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline MORE defended conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael KavanaughTrump faces tricky choice on Supreme Court pick The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' MORE and Neil Gorsuch Neil GorsuchAbortion stirs GOP tensions in Supreme Court fight Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump, GOP allies prepare for SCOTUS nomination this week MORE as “very decent and very smart.”

"I can say that my two newest colleagues are very decent and very smart individuals," she said Wednesday at an event in Washington, D.C., according to CNN.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ginsburg’s comments come amid concerns that if she were to die or to retire from the bench, a spot would open up on the nine-member court for President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE to appoint a third conservative justice and push the ideological balance further to the right.

In an interview with NPR on Tuesday, the 86-year-old justice refuted those concerns, saying she's "very much alive."

Ginsburg is one of the court’s four liberal-leaning justices and has served on the bench since 1993. Earlier this month, she praised Kavanaugh for his entirely female staff as a “very important first.”

"There is a very important first on the Supreme Court this term, and it's thanks to our new justice, Justice Kavanaugh, whose entire staff is all women. All of his law clerks are women," Ginsburg said at an event held by Georgetown Law, CNN reports.

She added: “And with his four women as law clerks, it's the first time in the history of the United States that there have been more women clerking at the court than men."

Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointment, was sworn in in April 2017, while Kavanaugh — who replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court’s swing vote — was sworn in on Oct. 6 after a controversial confirmation process centered on multiple sexual assault allegations.

Kavanaugh recently came under fire for appointing the daughter of Yale law professor and self-branded “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua, who publicly supported Kavanaugh’s nomination, to a clerkship in his office.