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Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dies at age 80

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Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dies

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 4, 2005; 12:21 AM

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th Chief Justice of the United States, died last night at his home in Arlington. He was 80.

Rehnquist, who had been suffering from thyroid cancer since last October, had managed to lead the court through its last term, which ended in June. But he went through "a precipitous decline in his health in the last couple of days," Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Rehnquist's death comes as the Senate is preparing for hearings on President Bush's nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice. Those hearings are set to begin on Tuesday. O'Connor, 75, announced her retirement on July 1, effective upon the confirmation of a successor.

President Bush must now name a replacement for Rehnquist, and the process of selecting and confirming a new justice will probably last past the first day of the court's new term, Oct. 3. That means that even if Roberts is swiftly confirmed, the court will be operating with only eight members for an indefinite period.

Tie votes on the court result in the automatic affirmance of the lower court's ruling in the court, but do not establish a legal precedent.

A conservative stalwart appointed as associate Justice by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972, Rehnquist was elevated to chief justice in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. His 33-year tenure on the court was one of the longest and most influential in the institution's history, as he spearheaded a rightward move at the court -- first as a lone dissenter, then later as the leader of a five-justice conservative majority.

Already preoccupied with the recovery effort for Hurricane Katrina and the Roberts nomination battle, President Bush must now focus on a successor for Rehnquist. But Rehnquist's illness has prepared the White House for the possibility that he would be leaving the court, so the element of surprise should be less than it was in the case of O'Connor's retirement.

Among those who have been mentioned as possible choices include Alberto R. Gonzales, the attorney general, and federal appeals court judges J. Michael Luttig and J. Harvie Wilkinson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond.

"The president and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened at the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist," the White House said in a statement. "His family is in their thoughts and prayers." An aide said Bush was informed of Rehnquist's death shortly before 11 p.m. and added that the president will make a statement to reporters about the chief justice Sunday morning after attending church services.

Rehnquist leaves a towering legacy. As a young lawyer in Phoenix in 1957, he declared a personal war of sorts against the Supreme Court, then headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Rehnquist gave a speech blasting Warren and Justice Hugo Black as "left-wing philosophers." He published a magazine article blaming the Warren court's liberal drift on the "political cast" of the justices' law clerks.

Rehnquist's effort to roll back the modern liberal tide would take him to Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater's ill-fated 1964 presidential campaign, to the Nixon administration Justice Department and eventually, in 1972, to the court itself.

Now, after 33 years there -- the last 18-plus of them as chief justice -- Rehnquist, 80, could claim to have fought Warren to a draw.

More info from the Washington Post

Wikipedia entry on Rehnquist

I'm not going to hold back, PC-ize my reply, or in any way change what I'm thinking. My only response is, "Oh shit, nutjob gets to put another crony in."

Rest in peace William H. Rehnquist. The impact of your distinguished career, civil service, and legacy of hard work and servitude will last for many many years to come. Your steady hand and careful, thoughtful guidance will be missed.

EXACTLY! I was hoping so much that he wouldn't die until after the next election. Unfortunately everyone knew that probably wasn't going to happen, and well, now we KNOW its not going to happen. This is sad news indeed.

At the risk of sounding like I don't care about his life or career and thinking that I believe there are those callous enough to be happy about this, I have to say that I'm pretty certain there are some very private high fives being smacked about in the White House tonight.

While I mainly steer clear of political discussion, this development kind of scares me. It was inevitable, of course, but still, the possibility of one president (and a staunch religious, right leaner to boot) getting to say who sits on the Supreme Court twice within the term is daunting and haunting. And, barring some deep dark sinister secret revealed during Senate hearings, another conservative will get a seat. In some fairness, other justices who were feared to be quite right-leaning have turned out to be rather fair; afterall, their primary job is to uphold and interpret the items within the Constitution. However, the recent decision in favor of New London, CT. was frightening in its ramifications, as one example of recent rulings.....

Blackthorn has already posted in more eloquent terms what I wished to say about Chief Justice Rehnquist.

Mr. SelfDestruct expresses well my feelings about the future of the Supreme Court. I fear for our privacy rights, and our freedoms.

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Originally Posted by JumpinJesus

Maybe, maybe not. First, I don't think anybody expected Rehnquist to last another 3-4 years in the court. He was pretty sick. So Bush would have been planning for his death or medical retirement in any case.

Second, there was some thought among the pundits that Rehnquist was in fact planning to retire because of illness, but had been holding off until after Bush filled the first vacancy on the court.

The reasoning: Bush would have a harder time pushing really conservative candidates if he were filling two vacancies at one time and the balance of the court was clearly in question. It'd seem more like a power grab from the right, and could be played that way to the people by his opponents; though it is of course Bush's right to nominate who he wants. Having to fill only one vacancy at a time would reduce the political cost for Bush to get exactly who he wanted for his first nominee.

Under this line of reasoning, Bush and compatriots would actually be somewhat dismayed that Rehnquist died too soon: now they'll have a much tougher political fight on their hands. Heck, with Roberts alone, I've already started hearing attack ads against him on radio.

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Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct

I'm not going to hold back, PC-ize my reply, or in any way change what I'm thinking. My only response is, "Oh shit, nutjob gets to put another crony in."

My thoughts exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct

I'm not going to hold back, PC-ize my reply, or in any way change what I'm thinking. My only response is, "Oh shit, nutjob gets to put another crony in."

this was my response on hearing the news as well.

ditto that

also...it looks like pat robertson's prayers were answered...they got another opening in the supreme court. I just find it odd why a religious figure would be so political.