  In this paper, we investigate the near-extremal thermodynamics of the
Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black hole. Our methodology is based on a duality that
exists between the near-horizon geometry of the near-extremal RN sector and
Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) theory. First, the described correspondence is reviewed
at the classical level. Next, we consider first-order perturbations in the dual
JT geometry by incorporating a quantum scalar field into the formalism. The
novelty of our approach is that the matter field is endowed with a
4-dimensional pedigree. We ultimately find that back-reaction effects prohibit
the JT black hole from losing all of its mass. This outcome directly implies
that an RN black hole can not reach extremality and, moreover, can not even
come arbitrarily close to an extremal state.
