Justice Stevens Begins Cancer Therapy, Continues on Court

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has begun radiation treatment for prostate cancer, but his condition is not serious and he does not expect to miss any time on the bench. In a statement issued Monday, a high court spokeswoman said that a recent biopsy detected a “localized, early (stage)” tumor in his prostate gland.

“Justice Stevens is expected to continue to participate fully in all cases to come before the court during and after his radiation treatment and to make a full recovery without any residual effects,” the spokeswoman, Toni House, said.

Stevens, a buoyant 71-year-old, is best known for his bright bow ties, a scholarly mind and quick-witted questions from the bench. He is generally considered the least political--and least predictable--of the justices.

Stevens was on the bench Monday to hear three hours of oral arguments, and was expected to return today for three other cases, among them a challenge to California’s Proposition 13 property-tax limitation.

In December, 1975, as President Gerald R. Ford was about to begin a yearlong election campaign, he appointed Stevens, a nonpolitical appeals court judge, to replace the liberal Justice William O. Douglas.

At first, Stevens added a moderately conservative voice to a still-liberal court. He provided a crucial vote for reinstating capital punishment.

But in the 1980s, he found himself a regular dissenter as the court moved to the right. He has chided his colleagues for “judicial activism” of the conservative variety. Only Stevens and fellow Republican appointee Harry A. Blackmun continue to voice support for the Roe vs. Wade ruling, asserting a woman’s constitutional right to choose abortion.