Chief justice released from hospital

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was sent home Friday after spending a week in the hospital for treatment of thyroid cancer.

The illness, revealed about a week before the presidential election, has prompted speculation that the Supreme Court could have a new member sooner than expected. It has been more than a decade since the last vacancy, a modern era record.

A court spokesman announced Rehnquist's release from the National Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md. The 80-year-old chief justice is expected back on the bench Monday when the court returns from a two-week break.

Details about the seriousness of the cancer have been kept secret. He underwent a tracheotomy last Saturday as part of his treatment. But some colleagues have been upbeat about the prospects for Rehnquist, who is known as a hard-nosed taskmaster.

Justice Clarence Thomas told University of Kansas law students on Thursday that he expected the chief justice back at the court "as unforgiving as ever."

Even from the hospital, Rehnquist apparently was working this week. He joined the other court members to refuse to put independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in the battleground state of Ohio and to let Philip Morris USA delay paying $10.5-million in damages to a former smoker while the company contests the amount.

The court spokesman would not say whether Rehnquist participated in a private meeting of the justices on Friday to consider the latest appeals. As chief, Rehnquist normally leads those sessions.

"He is a very resilient, robust, strong-willed man," said Washington lawyer Charles Cooper, who clerked for Rehnquist. "He's dedicated to his work and his responsibilities. In keeping with that dedication, he would continue (work) unless completely prevented from it."

The type of thyroid cancer, how advanced it is and Rehnquist's prognosis have not been disclosed. The thyroid is a gland in the neck that produces hormones to help regulate the body's use of energy. There are several kinds of thyroid cancer, from relatively treatable varieties to a fast-growing and fatal malignancy known as anaplastic thyroid cancer, which occurs most commonly among men over 65.

In published reports this week, medical experts said the tracheotomy, in which a hole is opening in the throat to relieve a blocked windpipe, could be a sign the cancer had spread and was hampering his breathing. Also, Rehnquist's recent hoarseness is often symptomatic of thyroid cancer pressing on nerves in the throat, doctors said.

In early October, the chief justice was concerned enough about his voice to cancel a speaking engagement at the University of Nebraska law school, said the school's dean, Steven Willborn. Rehnquist wrote to Willborn saying he was having trouble with his throat and voice and would be unable to give the Oct. 29 lecture. His physician didn't know what was wrong, he said, but he planned to have a magnetic resonance imaging test during the second week of October.

Rehnquist has been on the court since 1972, chief justice since 1986. He has had other health problems including chronic back pain and a torn leg tendon that required surgery. Three other justices have had cancer. John Paul Stevens had prostate cancer, Sandra Day O'Connor had breast cancer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg was treated for colon cancer.

Thomas said in Kansas that justices have a tendency to work even when they're sick. "It's a place where people work as if they're paid by the hour," he said.

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

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