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[David]

[David]

Story Here

Quote: By GINA HOLLAND

(AP) Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is seen in this Dec. 5, 2003 file photo taken at the Supreme...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening of cancer, ending a remarkable 33-year tenure on the Supreme Court and creating a rare second vacancy on the nation's highest court.

Rehnquist, 80, was surrounded by his three children when he died at his home in suburban Arlington.

"The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his duties on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days," said court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.

Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1972. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.

His death ends a career during which Rehnquist oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election.

The death leaves President Bush with his second court opening within four months and sets up what's expected to be an even more bruising Senate confirmation battle than that of John Roberts.

It was not immediately clear what impact Rehnquist's death would have on confirmation hearings for Roberts, scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Rehnquist presided over President Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999, helped settle the 2000 presidential election in Bush's favor, and fashioned decisions over the years that diluted the powers of the federal government while strengthening those of the states.

Arberg said plans regarding funeral arrangements would be forthcoming.

Bush was notified of Rehnquist's death shortly before 11 p.m. EDT.

"President Bush and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened by the news," said White House counselor Dan Bartlett. "It's a tremendous loss for our nation." The president was expected to make a personal statement about Rehnquist on Sunday.

The chief justice passed up a chance to step down over the summer, which would have given the Senate a chance to confirm his successor while the court was out of session, and instead Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement to spend time with her ill husband. Bush chose Roberts, a former Rehnquist clerk and friend, to replace O'Connor.

Rehnquist said in July that he wanted to stay on the bench as long as his health would allow.

The president could elevate to chief justice one of the court's conservatives, such as Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, but it's more likely he will choose someone from outside the court.

Possible replacements include Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and federal courts of appeals judges J. Michael Luttig, Edith Clement, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Michael McConnell, Emilio Garza, and James Harvie Wilkinson III. Others mentioned are former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, lawyer Miguel Estrada and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson.

Rehnquist announced last October that he had thyroid cancer. He had a trachea tube inserted to help him breathe and underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Details of the chief justice's illness and his plans had been tightly guarded. He looked frail at Bush's inauguration in January and missed five months of court sessions before returning to the bench in March.

On the court's final meeting day of the last term, June 27, Rehnquist appeared gaunt and had difficulty as he announced the last decision of the term - an opinion he wrote upholding a Ten Commandments display in Texas. His breathing was labored, and he kept the explanation short.

He had no public appearances over the summer, although he was filmed by television crews in July as he left the hospital following two nights for treatment of a fever.

Rehnquist had an extraordinary career, with many historic milestones.

In 1999, he presided over Bill Clinton's impeachment trial from the presiding officer's chair seat in the Senate, something only one other chief justice had done. A year later he was one of five Republican-nominated justices who voted to stop presidential ballot recounts in Florida, effectively deciding the election for Bush over Democrat Al Gore.

"The Supreme Court of Florida ordered recounts of tens of thousands of so-called 'undervotes' spread through 64 of the state's 67 counties. This was done in a search for elusive - perhaps delusive - certainty as to the exact count of 6 million votes," he wrote.

Rehnquist, who championed states' rights and helped speed up executions, is the only member still on the court who voted on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion. He opposed that decision, writing: "Even today, when society's views on abortion are changing, the very existence of the debate is evidence that the 'right' to an abortion is not so universally accepted as (Roe) would have us believe."

He believed there was a place for some religion in government. He wrote the 5-4 decision in 2002 that said parents may use public tax money to send their children to religious schools. Two years later, he was distressed when the court passed up a chance to declare that the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is constitutional.

"The phrase 'under God' in the pledge seems, as a historical matter, to sum up the attitude of the nation's leaders, and to manifest itself in many of our public observances," he wrote.

Rehnquist leaves without accomplishing the legal revolution he had hoped for as the nation's 16th chief justice. As Rehnquist read it, the Constitution lets states outlaw abortion and sponsor prayers in public schools but bars them from giving special, affirmative-action preferences to racial minorities and women. The court he led disagreed.

In 2003, for example, the court preserved affirmative action in college admissions and issued a landmark gay rights ruling that struck down laws criminalizing gay sex, both over Rehnquist's objections. And last year, Rehnquist disagreed when the court ruled that the government cannot indefinitely detain terrorism suspects and deny them access to courts

Rehnquist was somewhat of a surprise choice when President Nixon nominated him to the court in 1971. He was a 47-year-old Justice Department lawyer with a reputation for brilliance and unbending conservative ideology when he was chosen to fill the seat of retiring Justice John Marshall Harlan. Rehnquist, who practiced law in Phoenix before moving to Washington, was the court's youngest member.

For years he was known as the "Lone Ranger" for his many dissents on a then-liberal court that left him ideologically isolated on the far right. Succeeding appointments of conservative justices and Rehnquist's elevation by President Reagan to the federal judiciary's top job in 1986 transformed his role into one of leading and nurturing an increasingly conservative Supreme Court.

Rehnquist was the force behind the court's push for greater states' rights. The chief justice has been the leader of five conservatives, sometimes called "the Rehnquist five," who generally advocate limited federal government interference.

Those five - Rehnquist and O'Connor, Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Thomas - have voted together to strike down federal laws intended to protect female victims of violent crime and keep guns away from schools, on grounds that those issues were better dealt with at the local level. They split, however, in a recent decision upholding the federal government's right to ban sick people from smoking marijuana even in states that have laws allowing the treatment.

The Rehnquist five were together in the Bush v. Gore decision, which critics predicted would tarnish the court's hard-won luster. The closing paragraph of a book Rehnquist wrote on the court's history may stand as his answer to criticism.

Rehnquist noted that the court makes "demonstrable errors" from time to time, but he added, "It and the country have survived these mistakes and the court as an institution has steadily grown in authority and prestige."

He had deflected criticism about his views on race during his 1971 confirmation, and the one 15 years later when he became chief justice. As a law clerk to Justice Robert Jackson, Rehnquist wrote memos in 1952 that appeared to suggest Jackson should oppose Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark ruling that declared public school segregation unconstitutional.

As chief justice, Rehnquist drew complaints when he led a group of lawyers and judges in a rendition of "Dixie" at a conference in Virginia in 1999. He did not respond to a black lawyers' organization that called the song an offensive "symbol of slavery and oppression."

Rehnquist, a widower since 1991, dodged questions about his legacy in a March 2004 interview. He said that he tried to keep the court running smoothly and keep the peace among the justices.

"To get everybody working harmoniously together is not a small feat," he said on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show.""You have to have a very high boiling point."

Within the court, Rehnquist was a far more popular chief justice than his predecessor, Warren Burger. Liberal Justice John Paul Stevens said in 2002 that Rehnquist brought "efficiency, good humor and absolute impartiality" to the job. Some justices complained that Burger was heavy-handed and pompous.

Rehnquist's grandparents emigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1880 and settled in Chicago. His grandfather was a tailor, his grandmother a school teacher. Rehnquist grew up in Wisconsin, the son of paper salesman and a translator.

He at first had planned to be a college professor, but a test showed him suited to the legal field. In 1952, he graduated first in his class at Stanford University's law school, where he briefly dated O'Connor, the high court's first female justice.

Rehnquist caused great amusement when he departed from tradition by adding four shiny gold stripes to each sleeve of his black robe in 1995. The flourish was inspired by a costume in a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta.

A close student of the Supreme Court's traditions and history, he was a stickler for decorum. He frequently admonished hapless lawyers who did not show what Rehnquist regarded as proper courtesy in the courtroom. His gravelly monotone silenced any who kept talking past their allotted time.

He was the enthusiastic host of an annual, old-fashioned employee Christmas party at the court. At a time when many schools, government offices and private businesses quietly did away with overtly Christian holiday symbols, Rehnquist led the singing of traditional Christmas carols.

Rehnquist has led a quiet social life outside the court. Until recently, he walked daily, as tonic for a chronic bad back, and played tennis with his law clerks. He enjoyed bridge, spending time with his eight grandchildren, charades and a monthly poker game with Scalia and a revolving cast of powerful Washington men. He liked beer, and smoked in private.

The only chief justice older than Rehnquist was Roger Taney, who presided over the high court in the mid-1800s until his death at 87. Rehnquist was also closing in on the record for longest-serving justice. Only four men were on the court 34 years or longer.

[Janis]

I've just seen the news.

We have been expecting this. Boy, Washington has got a lot on its table these days. I hope the smear campaigns slow down and they just get down to business.

[njlemire87]

This is sad news for Washington and the Nation. He will be missed. :(

[JRM4833]

This is very sad news. May he rest in peace.

[ToonArmyIsComing]

The battle for a replacement will be more polarized than ever!!!

[JRM4833]

Amazing that with all that's happening in NO, this has been completely ignored (not that NO shouldn't be the focus of all of us right now). It's a shame though. He was a great man and a great justice.

[Janis]

Pres Bush to announce Roberts nomination as Chief Justice.

[JRM4833]

Janis wrote: Pres Bush to announce Roberts nomination as Chief Justice.

Wow. :shock:

NY Times wrote: Bush Nominates Roberts to Replace Chief Justice Rehnquist

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: September 5, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 - President Bush nominated Judge John G. Roberts Jr. today to replace Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, whose death late Saturday opened a second vacancy on the Supreme Court and a new front in the ideological battle over the judiciary.

The chief justice died just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee was preparing to convene hearings Tuesday on the nomination of Judge Roberts, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The hearings will be the first in 11 years for a Supreme Court nominee. Judge Roberts was a former clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist.It was not clear how the announcement would affect the proceedings.

The Republican leadership in the Senate signaled that it would almost certainly alter its schedule for the confirmation hearings for the seat being vacated by Justice O'Connor, providing time to honor Chief Justice Rehnquist and acknowledging the extraordinary political climate in Washington after Hurricane Katrina.The chief justice's death brought to an end a nearly two-decade era in which he managed the court's consideration of incendiary social issues like abortion, the implications of rapidly changing technology, the ever-present clash between the powers of states and the federal government, and raw political battles, including the 2000 presidential election.Chief Justice Rehnquist's body will lie in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court all day on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, the court's public information office said. The family will hold a private service at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, followed by burial in Arlington National Cemetery.The death seemed unlikely to lead to any fundamental alteration in the balance of the court. Chief Justice Rehnquist - unlike Justice O'Connor, who has been a swing voter on the most contentious issues - was a stalwart conservative. Mr. Bush was expected to choose someone from the same mold to replace him, though he had been under some pressure to choose a Hispanic or a woman rather than a white man. President Bush made today's announcement in the Oval Office with Judge Roberts at his side, saying that with just four weeks left before the Supreme Court reconvenes, it was in the interest of the court and the country to have a chief justice on the bench on the first full day of the fall term.Chief Justice Rehnquist died Saturday night at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 80 and had been serving on the court for 33 years, the last 19 as chief justice."He was a man of character and dedication," Mr. Bush said during an appearance Sunday morning in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, recalling how the chief justice, rendered frail by illness and treatment, had mustered the strength to swear him in for his second term on Jan. 20. "His departure represents a great loss for the court and for our country."Although Chief Justice Rehnquist had been battling thyroid cancer for nearly a year, the White House, members of the Senate and his fellow justices had no warning that his condition had become dire in the past few days, officials said. Justice David H. Souter said he was "flabbergasted" by the news of his death.

Mr. Bush, who had previously said his goal was for Judge Roberts to be confirmed in time for the beginning of the court's new term on Oct. 3, had previously signaled that he did not intend to wait long to announce a decision.

Speculation about filling a vacancy from outside has centered on the same group of federal appeals court justices that had been on Mr. Bush's short list when he chose Judge Roberts to succeed Justice O'Connor. That list included Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Judges Edith Brown Clement and Edith H. Jones, both of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and Judges J. Michael Luttig and J. Harvie Wilkinson III, both of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Judge Clement sits in New Orleans, a fact that could give her selection special resonance as that city reels in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Republicans, including Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and former White House officials said President Bush would be strongly inclined to choose either a woman or a Hispanic nominee like Mr. Gonzales.

White House officials began planning for the nomination almost immediately after they got word of Chief Justice Rehnquist's death, Mr. Bartlett said. On Sunday, he said, Mr. Bush and top aides including Harriet Miers, the White House counsel, Andrew H. Card Jr., the chief of staff, and officials from the Justice Department met to discuss the matter.

The death set off a round of telephone calls and negotiations on Capitol Hill. Some Democrats had already been pressing for a postponement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and they used the chief justice's death to press their case for a delay at least until after the funeral.

"Out of respect for the memory of Chief Justice Rehnquist and in fairness to those whose lives continue to be devastated by Katrina, the Senate should not commence a Supreme Court confirmation hearing this Tuesday," the Democratic leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, said in a statement Sunday afternoon. "A brief postponement will not disadvantage anyone."

But Republicans, sensing the Roberts confirmation within their grasp, initially resisted, saying opponents were seeking to drag out the confirmation with hopes of derailing it. They argued that Chief Justice Rehnquist, who once kept the court open during a blizzard that shut down every other government building in Washington, would want the hearings for Judge Roberts to go on.

For conservative backers of Judge Roberts, any delay poses a danger, giving opponents more time to raise questions and mount opposition. Even Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, the only member of the Judiciary Committee representing a hurricane-affected state, said there was no need to postpone.

But White House officials said that they were not concerned by a delay, and that there was still time for the hearings to be completed, votes to take place in the committee and on the Senate floor and to have Judge Roberts sworn in by the start of the new term.

A spokesman for Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said only that a postponement was "under consideration" and would depend largely on funeral arrangements for the chief justice.

"The real issue is consideration for the family," said the spokesman, Bill Reynolds.

The hearings could grow more complicated now that Mr. Bush has nominated Judge Roberts to the chief's job. Democrats are already demanding access to legal memorandums written by Judge Roberts during his time in the solicitor general's office under the first President Bush; a change in the nominee's status would certainly add heat to that debate.

"If the White House wants to elevate him to an even higher position as chief justice, I think it's a higher standard of inquiry and we would, I think, be adamant that we would need to have the information," Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and a member of the judiciary panel, said before today's announcement by the president.

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[anselfir]

interesting...
wonder how this affects the confirmation process. what will the democrats do...

[Snarf]

R.I.P. CJ. I almost never agreed with your opinions, but you had a hell of a good run. Sleep well.

[Demosthenes_]

Nominating Roberts for justice is going to hurt Bush even more. I'm interested to see how this ends up. I hope Roberts will be able to do as good as William.

[JRM4833]

Demosthenes_ wrote: Nominating Roberts for justice is going to hurt Bush even more. I'm interested to see how this ends up. I hope Roberts will be able to do as good as William.

This won't hurt Bush. I'm not sure where you get that impression.

[tictactactical]

No, nominating Roberts was ingenious. The only thing that is, and will continue to be hurt is the Dem's chances of mounting a successful fight against his confirmation. As far as Roberts being "able to do as good as William" : that's completely relative and opinion-able as to just how "good" William was. Some people have great respect for him for foregoing retirement in the face of impending death, but that would only be true for me if his job hadn't been so critical to this nation. He was in a rapidly deteriorating condition that would severely hinder his duties as Chief Justice and with that knowledge in mind, his ego controlled his actions more than his sworn duty to these United States. In essence, he was too proud to admit defeat, and his ego driven pride allowed him a willingness to sacrifice the American justice system. [/quote]