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  Ginsburg's Illness Puts Focus on Choices Ahead for Obama
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ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  Feb 07, 2009 11:03am
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Washington Post
News DateSaturday, February 7, 2009 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionBy Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 7, 2009; Page A02

The announcement this week that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer served as an early reminder of the weighty judicial choices ahead for President Obama, who must fill urgent vacancies on appeals courts and federal trial courts as well as potential seats on the nation's highest court.

Ginsburg, 75, had surgery Thursday at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York to remove a small cancerous tumor from the center of her pancreas. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said yesterday that Ginsburg intends to come back to the court in time for three days of oral arguments beginning Feb. 23.

Ginsburg's plan to return so quickly signals that she is recovering well from the surgery and that she probably avoided a more extensive type of operation that is sometimes needed for pancreatic tumors, said Sarah Thayer, a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"If she's going back already, you know she's likely doing fairly well," Thayer said. She did not have specific knowledge about Ginsburg's case.

Ginsburg may require four to six weeks of chemotherapy and possibly radiation, but many patients can work while undergoing the treatment, Thayer added.

Word of the justice's illness, however, resurrected discussions from the campaign about who Obama should appoint should there be a vacancy at the Supreme Court.
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