Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, had surgery on Thursday for pancreatic cancer, raising questions about her future and whether President Barack Obama might get his first appointment to the country's highest court. Ginsburg, the court's lone female and only the second woman member in its history, was operated on for "apparently early-stage" pancreatic cancer at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the court announced.
Ginsburg, who was appointed to the court in 1993 by Democratic President Bill Clinton, had colon cancer in 1999. But she has showed no further signs of that disease after surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Ginsburg showed no symptoms of pancreatic cancer before the initial discovery of a lesion during a routine annual check-up in late January. A CAT scan revealed a small tumor, approximately one centimeter across, in the center of the pancreas, she said.
Ginsburg will likely remain in the hospital about 7 to 10 days, said Dr. Murray Brennan, the attending surgeon.
If Ginsburg, who has previously said she hoped to stay on the court into her early 80s, were to leave the nine-member court, Obama would pick her successor.
Ginsburg is a liberal on a court that has often split in a 5-4 vote between conservative and liberal factions. The court has been closely divided on issues like the death penalty, the rights of foreign terrorism suspects held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and abortion.
During the presidential campaign Obama praised the court's liberal-leaning members while criticizing the conservatives.
If liberals like Ginsburg or Justices John Paul Stevens or David Souter depart over the next four years, Obama might not shift the balance of power on the court.
But he could replace older justices with younger ones who could serve for decades -- beyond his own presidency even if that turned into two terms, or eight years.
Asked about a year ago for the factors he would consider in selecting a Supreme Court justice, Obama said: "Somebody with integrity, somebody with academic experience. Finally somebody who has a bias toward the little person."
Obama, a Democrat, took office on January 20, replacing Republican George W. Bush.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama had not spoken to Ginsburg but his "thoughts and prayers are with her and her family right now, and we hope for and wish her a speedy recovery."
Ira Forman of the National Jewish Democratic Council called Ginsburg a strong supporter of women's rights and civil liberties. "Ginsburg, one of our nation's brightest legal minds, is the first Jewish woman to serve on our country's highest court," he added.
PANCREATIC CANCER
The American Cancer Society wished Ginsburg well.
"Justice Ginsburg's success in beating back a diagnosis of colon cancer nearly ten years ago has inspired and given hope to many in the cancer fight, said the society's chief medical officer, Otis Brawley.
"This new diagnosis is unfortunate, and we take hope in reports that this was apparently an early stage of disease, and wish her well, offer our support and prayers, and want to encourage her in what we know is going to be a challenging course of therapy."
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is about 5 percent. Most patients die within six months because the cancer shows few symptoms until it is too advanced to be helped by treatment.
If the tumor looks like it can be removed, a complex surgical procedure can help patients live longer, with the overall five-year survival about 20 percent.
Patients whose cancer is caught before it spreads into their lymph nodes may have up to a 40 percent survival rate.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 37,680 Americans get pancreatic cancer each year and 34,290 die of it.
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