Justice Breyer has shoulder surgery after bike accident

John Bacon, USA TODAY | USATODAY

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer broke his right shoulder Saturday in a fall from his bicycle in downtown Washington, the court said.

Breyer, 74, was taken to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital by ambulance and underwent reverse shoulder replacement surgery -- similar to standard replacement surgery -- court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said in a statement.

Breyer was bicycling near the Korean War Veterans Memorial along the Mall when the accident occurred, the statement said. No further details were provided.

"The justice is resting comfortably" and is expected to be released from the hospital within a few days, the announcement said.

Breyer broke his collarbone in 2011 bike accident in Cambridge, Mass., and broke ribs and punctured a lung when he was hit by a car while riding in Boston in 1993.

Last year, he and his wife were robbed by a machete-wielding intruder at their vacation home on the Caribbean island of Nevis. A few months later his Georgetown home was burglarized, although no one was home at the time.

Breyer, a San Francisco native, was appointed to the court in 1994 by President Clinton to replace retiring justice Harry Blackmun.

The Supreme Court has wrapped up hearings for the current term, and is eginning the work on remaining opinions. Summer recess is scheduled to begin in late June.