Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer, the court says.
It says the 75-year-old justice had surgery in New York and is expected to remain in hospital for up to 10 days.
The Supreme Court said her illness appeared to be in its early stages. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancers.
Ms Ginsburg has been a justice since 1993 and is one of the more liberal of the nine judges on the Supreme Court.
If she were to stand down, it would give President Barack Obama the chance to name his first Supreme Court justice.
Ms Ginsburg has previously said she has no intention of leaving the court any time soon.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2006 

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, has undergone surgery for early pancreatic cancer today. The disease was spotted during a routine check-up. She is likely to be hospitalised for ten days.

"Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual checkup in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland," the Supreme Court announced.

Ginsburg underwent sugery and had chemotherapy for colorectal cancer in 1999; her mother and husband also suffered from cancer.

She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and is considered to be on the liberal wing of the nine-member court.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama said that Obama's thoughts and prayers are with Ginsburg.

According to the American Cancer Society, the one-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 24%, and the five-year survival rate is 5%.