From Drudge Report:
WASHINGTON (AP) – William H. Rehnquist, a conservative who is the second oldest man ever to be chief justice of the Supreme Court, has been hospitalized with thyroid cancer.
The 80-year-old Rehnquist spent the weekend in Bethesda Naval Hospital in suburban Maryland, and underwent a tracheotomy on Saturday, the Supreme Court said Monday in a statement.
The Supreme Court is not meeting this week, and Rehnquist is expected back on the bench when the court returns to work next Monday, according to a statement issued by the high court.
Rehnquist, named to the court in 1972 by President Richard Nixon and elevated to chief justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, has had a series of health problems.
With the advanced age of this Court it’s remarkable that more attention hasn’t been paid to prospective Supreme Court appointments in this campaign season. If this doesn’t bring the issue into sharper relief, nothing will.
