WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the Supreme Court, had surgery Thursday for early stage pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court announced.
Court sources said the surgery went well and that doctors and the family were cautiously optimistic. Ginsburg was still working in her chambers late last week. She had been diagnosed shortly after attending the presidential inauguration, the sources said.
The court returns for public oral arguments February 23, after a month-long break, but justices are also scheduled for a closed-door conference February 20. There is no word whether Ginsburg will attend in person, or if she will eventually have to curtail her workload.
Ginsburg previously underwent surgery for colorectal cancer in September 1999. Court sources said she continued to work on pending cases while in her hospital bed and during her subsequent recovery. Less than a month later she appeared in public to give a speech and said, "I am still mending but have progressed steadily." She never missed a day on the bench.
She received chemotherapy between October 1999 and June 2000. There was no word on her future course of treatment beyond Thursday's surgery.
Ginsburg, considered one of the more liberal jurists on the bench, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
She is admired by her colleagues for her intellectual prowess, her understanding of court precedent and her quiet but firm manner.
She is the only woman serving on the high court, and the second ever, following Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who served from 1981 to 2006.
Ginsburg was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. District Court of Appeals, where she served from 1981 until her nomination to the Supreme Court.
Source: CNN.com, Feb. 6, 2009
Court sources said the surgery went well and that doctors and the family were cautiously optimistic. Ginsburg was still working in her chambers late last week. She had been diagnosed shortly after attending the presidential inauguration, the sources said.
The court returns for public oral arguments February 23, after a month-long break, but justices are also scheduled for a closed-door conference February 20. There is no word whether Ginsburg will attend in person, or if she will eventually have to curtail her workload.
Ginsburg previously underwent surgery for colorectal cancer in September 1999. Court sources said she continued to work on pending cases while in her hospital bed and during her subsequent recovery. Less than a month later she appeared in public to give a speech and said, "I am still mending but have progressed steadily." She never missed a day on the bench.
She received chemotherapy between October 1999 and June 2000. There was no word on her future course of treatment beyond Thursday's surgery.
Ginsburg, considered one of the more liberal jurists on the bench, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
She is admired by her colleagues for her intellectual prowess, her understanding of court precedent and her quiet but firm manner.
She is the only woman serving on the high court, and the second ever, following Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who served from 1981 to 2006.
Ginsburg was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. District Court of Appeals, where she served from 1981 until her nomination to the Supreme Court.
Source: CNN.com, Feb. 6, 2009
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