U.S. SUPREME COURT Chief justice's cancer sparks speculation

The illness highlights a potential new campaign issue -- court appointments.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist may be back on the job next week, though some physicians questioned whether his treatment for thyroid cancer would sideline him longer.
Justice Rehnquist announced his cancer diagnosis Monday through a terse statement at the Supreme Court. The disclosure caught even the closest court observers off guard and injected into the presidential campaign the issue of appointments to the high court.
The 80-year-old widower and longtime smoker underwent a tracheotomy over the weekend and was expected to be released this week from the hospital.
Facts about illness
About 23,600 people develop various types of thyroid cancer each year in the United States. The thyroid is a gland in the neck below the Adam's apple that produces hormones to help regulate the body's use of energy.
The Supreme Court statement did not say if Justice Rehnquist has a treatable form of the cancer, or a fatal one.
With the limited information, doctors differed on his prospects.
"The tracheotomy is a clue that he probably has an unusual variety," said Dr. Yosef Krespi, chairman of otolaryngology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. "It has to be the aggressive type or complicated thyroid cancer for someone to have a tracheotomy."
Dr. Paul Wallner of the National Cancer Institute said a tracheotomy, which involves opening the throat and inserting a tube, might be done for two reasons: "Simply in anticipation of routine thyroid surgery or ... because he was having breathing difficulty."
Campaign issue
Justice Rehnquist's hospitalization at National Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md., gave new prominence to a campaign issue that has been overshadowed by the war on terror. The next president probably will name one or more justices to a court that has been deeply divided in recent years on issues as varied as abortion and the 2000 election itself. President Bush won that after the Supreme Court issued a key 5-4 decision in his favor, with Justice Rehnquist as part of the majority.
The last court vacancy was in 1994, the longest stretch of continuity in modern history. Only one of the court's nine members -- Clarence Thomas, appointed by former President Bush -- is under 65.