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William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from 1986 until his death in 2005. Considered a staunch conservative, Rehnquist favored a conception of
federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...
that emphasized the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states. Under this view of federalism, the Court, for the first time since the 1930s (with the exception of ''
National League of Cities v. Usery ''National League of Cities v. Usery'', 426 U.S. 833 (1976), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fair Labor Standards Act could not constitutionally be applied to state governments. The decision was overruled b ...
'', which was overruled in '' Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority''), struck down an act of Congress as exceeding its power under the Commerce Clause. Rehnquist grew up in
Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...
, Wisconsin, and served in the
U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War ...
during the final years of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. After the war's end in 1945, he studied
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
and
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, then attended Stanford Law School, where he was an editor of the '' Stanford Law Review'' and graduated first in his class. Rehnquist clerked for Justice
Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as Unit ...
during the Supreme Court's 1952–53 term, then entered private practice in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
. Rehnquist served as a legal adviser for Republican presidential nominee
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...
in the
1964 U.S. presidential election The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nomin ...
, and President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
appointed him
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an assistant attorney general. The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and ...
of the
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
in 1969. In that capacity, he played a role in forcing Justice
Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from R ...
to resign for accepting $20,000 from financier
Louis Wolfson Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by '' Time'' as such in a 1956 article.John Marshall Harlan II, and the U.S. Senate confirmed him that year. During his confirmation hearings, Rehnquist was criticized for allegedly opposing the Supreme Court's decision in '' Brown v. Board of Education'' and allegedly taking part in voter suppression efforts targeting minorities as a lawyer. Whether he committed
perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
during the hearings is debated by historians, but it is known that at the very least he had defended segregation by private businesses in the early 1960s on the grounds of
freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...
. Rehnquist quickly established himself as the Burger Court's most conservative member. In 1986, President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
nominated Rehnquist to succeed retiring Chief Justice
Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
, and the Senate confirmed him. Rehnquist served as Chief Justice for nearly 19 years, making him the fourth-longest-serving Chief and the eighth-longest-serving Justice. He became an intellectual and social leader of the Rehnquist Court, earning respect even from the justices who frequently opposed his opinions. Though he remained a strong member of the conservative wing of the court, Associate Justices
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
and
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...
were often regarded as more conservative. As Chief Justice, Rehnquist presided over the impeachment trial of President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
. Rehnquist wrote the majority opinions in '' United States v. Lopez'' (1995) and ''
United States v. Morrison ''United States v. Morrison'', 529 U.S. 598 (2000), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that parts of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 were unconstitutional because they exceeded the powers granted to the US Congress under the Commer ...
'' (2000), holding in both cases that Congress had exceeded its power under the Commerce Clause. He opposed ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' and continued to argue that ''Roe'' had been incorrectly decided in ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of ''Roe v. Wade'' (1973) and is ...
''. In '' Bush v. Gore'', he voted with the court's majority to end the Florida recount in the
2000 U.S. presidential election The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, ...
.


Early life

Rehnquist was born on October 1, 1924, and grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood. His father, William Benjamin Rehnquist, was a sales manager at various times for printing equipment, paper, and medical supplies and devices; his mother, Margery (''née'' Peck)—the daughter of a local hardware store owner who also served as an officer and director of a small insurance company—was a local civic activist, as well as translator and homemaker. His paternal grandparents immigrated from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
.It means, in direct translation to English: ''reindeer twig''. Rehnquist graduated from Shorewood High School in 1942.Lane, Charles
"Head of the Class: Fresh from service in World War II, William Rehnquist went west unsure of his future. What he found on the Farm changed his life, and the future of the country."
, ''Stanford Magazine'', July / August 2005. Accessed September 17, 2007. "So, for the brainy kid they had called 'Bugs' back home at suburban Shorewood High School, just outside Milwaukee, weather was a key criterion in selecting a college."
He attended
Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...
, in
Gambier, Ohio Gambier is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,391 at the 2010 census. Gambier is the home of Kenyon College. A major feature is a gravel path running the length of the village, referred to as "Middle Path". This ...
, for one quarter in the fall of 1942 before enlisting in the
U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War ...
, the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force. He served from 1943 to 1946, mostly in assignments in the United States. He was put into a pre-
meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
program and assigned to
Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...
until February 1944, when the program was shut down. He served three months at
Will Rogers Field Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, three months in
Carlsbad, New Mexico Carlsbad ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 32,238. Carlsbad is centered at the intersection of U.S. Routes 62/180 and 285, and is the principal city ...
, and then went to Hondo, Texas, for a few months. He was then chosen for another training program, which began at Chanute Field,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
, and ended at
Fort Monmouth, New Jersey Fort Monmouth is a former installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about from the Atlantic Ocean. ...
. The program was designed to teach maintenance and repair of weather instruments. In the summer of 1945, Rehnquist went overseas as a weather observer in North Africa. After leaving the military in 1946, Rehnquist attended
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
with financial assistance from the G.I. Bill. He graduated in 1948 with
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
degrees in
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
. He did graduate study in government at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, where he received another Master of Arts in 1950. He then returned to Stanford to attend the Stanford Law School, where he was an editor of the '' Stanford Law Review''. Rehnquist was strongly conservative from an early age and wrote that he "hated" liberal Justice
Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. ...
in his diary at Stanford. He graduated in 1952 ranked first in his class with a
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...
. Rehnquist was in the same class at Stanford Law as
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
, with whom he would later serve on the Supreme Court. They briefly dated during law school, Biskupic, Joan. ''Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court became its most influential justice''. New York: Harper Collins, 2005 and Rehnquist proposed marriage to her. O'Connor declined as she was by then dating her future husband (this was not publicly known until 2018). Rehnquist married Nan Cornell in 1953.


Law clerk at the Supreme Court

After law school, Rehnquist served as a
law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for U.S. Supreme Court justice
Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as Unit ...
from 1952 to 1953. Biskupic, Joan
"Rehnquist left Supreme Court with conservative legacy"
. ''USA Today''. September 4, 2005.
While clerking for Jackson, he wrote a memorandum arguing against federal court-ordered
school desegregation School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and rem ...
while the Court was considering the landmark case '' Brown v. Board of Education'', which was decided in 1954. Rehnquist's 1952 memo, "A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases", defended the separate-but-equal doctrine. In the memo, Rehnquist wrote: In both his 1971
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
confirmation hearing A United States congressional hearing is the principal formal method by which United States congressional committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure unique ...
for associate justice and his 1986 hearing for chief justice, Rehnquist testified that the memorandum reflected Jackson's views rather than his own. Rehnquist said, "I believe that the memorandum was prepared by me as a statement of Justice Jackson's tentative views for his own use."1971 confirmation hearings. Jackson's longtime secretary and confidante Elsie Douglas said during Rehnquist's 1986 hearings that his allegation was "a smear of a great man, for whom I served as secretary for many years. Justice Jackson did not ask law clerks to express his views. He expressed his own and they expressed theirs. That is what happened in this instance." But Justices
Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...
's and Frankfurter's papers indicate that Jackson voted for ''Brown'' in 1954 only after changing his mind.Justice William O. Douglas wrote: "In the original conference there were only four who voted that segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. Those four were Black, Burton, Minton, and myself." See Bernard Schwartz,
Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases
'', page 96 (Oxford 1996). Likewise, Justice
Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judic ...
wrote: "I have no doubt that if the segregation cases had reached decision last term, there would have been four dissenters—Vinson, Reed, Jackson, and Clark." Ibid.
At his 1986 hearing for chief justice, Rehnquist tried to further distance himself from the 1952 memo, saying, "The bald statement that Plessy'' was right and should be reaffirmed' was not an accurate reflection of my own views at the time."Adam Liptak
"The Memo That Rehnquist Wrote and Had to Disown"
, ''NY Times'' (September 11, 2005)
But he acknowledged defending ''Plessy'' in arguments with fellow law clerks."Memos may not hold Roberts's opinions"
, ''The Boston Globe'', Peter S. Canellos, August 23, 2005, Rehnquist said in 1986 about his conversations with other clerks about ''Plessy'' that he: S. Hrg. 99–1067, Hearings Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the Nomination of Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist to be Chief Justice of the United States (July 29, 30, 31, and August 1, 1986).
Several commentators have concluded that the memo reflected Rehnquist's own views, not Jackson's. A biography of Jackson corroborates this, stating that Jackson instructed his clerks to express their views, not his. Further corroboration is found in a 2012 ''Boston College Law Review'' article that analyzes a 1955 letter to Frankfurter that criticized Jackson. In any event, while serving on the Supreme Court, Rehnquist made no effort to reverse or undermine ''Brown'' and often relied on it as precedent. ("Rehnquist ultimately embraced the Warren Court's ''Brown'' decision, and after he joined the Court he made no attempt to dismantle the civil-rights revolution, as political opponents feared he would"). In 1985, he said there was a "perfectly reasonable" argument against ''Brown'' and in favor of ''Plessy'', even though he now saw ''Brown'' as correct. In a memorandum to Jackson about '' Terry v. Adams'',''Terry v. Adams''
, 345 U.S. 461 (1953)
which involved the right of blacks to vote in Texas primaries where a non-binding white-only pre-election was being used to preselect the winner before the actual primary, Rehnquist wrote: In another memorandum to Jackson about the same case, Rehnquist wrote: Nevertheless, Rehnquist recommended to Jackson that the Supreme Court should agree to hear ''Terry''.


Private practice

After his Supreme Court clerkship, Rehnquist entered private practice in Phoenix,
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, where he worked from 1953 to 1969. He began his legal work in the firm of Denison Kitchel, subsequently serving as the national manager of
Barry M. Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for preside ...
's 1964 presidential campaign. Prominent clients included Jim Hensley,
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two te ...
's future father-in-law. During these years, Rehnquist was active in the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
and served as a legal advisor under Kitchel to Goldwater's campaign. He collaborated with Harry Jaffa on Goldwater's speeches. During both his 1971 hearing for associate justice and his 1986 hearing for chief justice, several people came forward to allege that Rehnquist had participated in Operation Eagle Eye, a Republican Party voter suppression operation in the 1960s in Arizona to challenge minority voters.Roddy, Dennis (December 2, 2000)
"Just Our Bill"
. ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''.
Rehnquist denied the charges, and Vincent Maggiore, then chairman of the Phoenix-area Democratic Party, said he had never heard any negative reports about Rehnquist's
Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...
activities. "All of these things", Maggiore said, "would have come through me."Wilentz, Amy (August 11, 1986)
"Through the Wringer"
''Time''.


Justice Department

When
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
was elected
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
in
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...
, Rehnquist returned to work in Washington. He served as Assistant Attorney General of the
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
from 1969 to 1971. In this role, he served as the chief lawyer to
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
John Mitchell. Nixon mistakenly called him "Renchburg" in several of the tapes of
Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped roo ...
conversations revealed during the
Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continu ...
investigations. Rehnquist played a role in the investigation of Justice
Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from R ...
for accepting $20,000 from
Louis Wolfson Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by '' Time'' as such in a 1956 article.Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
. Although other justices had made similar arrangements, Nixon saw the Wolfson payment as a political opportunity to cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Nixon wanted the Justice Department to investigate Fortas but was unsure if this was legal, as there was no precedent for such an activity. Rehnquist sent Attorney General
John N. Mitchell John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the 67th Attorney General of the United States under President Richard Nixon and chairman of Nixon's 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns. Prior to that, he had been a municipal ...
a memo arguing that an investigation would not violate the
separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typi ...
. Rehnquist did not handle the direct investigation, but was told by Mitchell to "assume the most damaging set of inferences about the case were true" and "determine what action the Justice Department could take." The worst inference Rehnquist could draw was that Fortas had somehow intervened in the prosecution of Wolfson, which was untrue. Based on this false accusation, Rehnquist argued that the Justice Department could investigate Fortas. After being investigated by Mitchell, who threatened to also investigate his wife, Fortas resigned. Because he was well-placed in the
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, many suspected Rehnquist could have been the source known as Deep Throat during the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
. Once Bob Woodward revealed on May 31, 2005, that W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat, this speculation ended.


Associate Justice


Nomination and confirmation as associate justice

On October 21, 1971, President Nixon nominated Rehnquist as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, to succeed John Marshall Harlan II.
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
initially proposed Rehnquist for the position to presidential advisor
H.R. Haldeman Harry Robbins Haldeman (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and his consequent involvement in the Watergate s ...
and asked, "Rehnquist is pretty far right, isn't he?" Haldeman responded, "Oh, Christ! He's way to the right of Buchanan", referring to then-presidential advisor Patrick Buchanan. Rehnquist's confirmation hearings before the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
took place in early November 1971. In addition to answering questions about school desegregation and racial discrimination in voting, Rehnquist was asked about his views on the extent of presidential power, the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the anti-war movement and law enforcement surveillance methods. On November 23, 1971, the committee voted 12-4 to send the nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. On December 10, 1971, the Senate first voted 52–42 against a
cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...
motion that would have allowed the Senate to end debate on Rehnquist's nomination and vote on whether to confirm him. The Senate then voted 22–70 to reject a motion to postpone consideration of his confirmation until July 18, 1972. Later that day, the Senate voted 68–26 to confirm Rehnquist, and he took the judicial oath of office on January 7, 1972. There were two Supreme Court vacancies in the fall of 1971. The other was filled by Lewis F. Powell Jr., who took office on the same day as Rehnquist to replace
Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. ...
.


Tenure as associate justice

On the Court, Rehnquist promptly established himself as Nixon's most conservative appointee, taking a narrow view of the Fourteenth Amendment and a broad view of state power. He almost always voted "with the prosecution in criminal cases, with business in antitrust cases, with employers in labor cases, and with the government in speech cases."Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong, ''The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court''. 1979. Simon and Schuster. Page 221. Rehnquist was often a lone dissenter in cases early on, but his views later often became the Court's majority view.


Federalism

For years, Rehnquist was determined to keep cases involving individual rights in state courts out of federal reach.Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong, ''The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court''. 1979. Simon and Schuster. Page 222. In ''
National League of Cities v. Usery ''National League of Cities v. Usery'', 426 U.S. 833 (1976), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fair Labor Standards Act could not constitutionally be applied to state governments. The decision was overruled b ...
'' (1977), his majority opinion invalidated a federal law extending
minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...
and maximum hours provisions to state and local government employees.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 114. Rehnquist wrote, "this exercise of congressional authority does not comport with the federal system of government embodied in the Constitution." According to law professor
Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky (born May 14, 1953) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure. Since 2017, Chemerinsky has been the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. Previously, he a ...
, Rehnquist presided over a "federalist revolution" as chief justice, during which the Court limited federal power in cases such as ''
New York v. United States ''New York v. United States'', 505 U.S. 144 (1992), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the majority, found that the federal government may not require states to “take title” to radioact ...
'', '' United States v. Lopez'', '' Printz v. United States'', and ''
United States v. Morrison ''United States v. Morrison'', 529 U.S. 598 (2000), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that parts of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 were unconstitutional because they exceeded the powers granted to the US Congress under the Commer ...
''. But
Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Ind ...
scholar Roger Pilon has said that the "Rehnquist court has revived the doctrine of federalism ... only at the edges and in very easy cases."


Equal protection, civil rights, and abortion

Rehnquist rejected a broad view of the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1952, while clerking for Jackson, Rehnquist wrote a memorandum concluding that "'' Plessy v. Ferguson'' was right and should be re-affirmed. If the Fourteenth Amendment did not enact Spencer's Social Statics, it just as surely did not enact Myrddahl's American Dilemma" ('' An American Dilemma''), by which he meant that the Court should not "read its own sociological views into the Constitution." Rehnquist believed the Fourteenth Amendment was meant only as a solution to the problems of slavery, and was not to be applied to abortion rights or prisoner's rights.Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong, ''The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court''. 1979. Simon and Schuster. Page 411. He believed the Court "had no business reflecting society's changing and expanding values" and that this was Congress's domain. Rehnquist tried to weave his view of the Amendment into his opinion for ''Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer'', but the other justices rejected it. He later extended what he said he saw as the Amendment's scope, writing in ''Trimble v. Gordon'', "except in the area of the law in which the Framers obviously meant it to apply—classifications based on race or on national origin".''Trimble v. Gordon''
, 430 U.S. 762 (1977)
During the Burger Court's deliberations over ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'', Rehnquist promoted his view that courts' jurisdiction does not apply to
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
.Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong, ''The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court''. 1979. Simon and Schuster. Page 235. Rehnquist voted against the expansion of school desegregation plans and the establishment of legalized abortions, dissenting in ''Roe v. Wade''. He expressed his views about the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
in cases like ''Trimble v. Gordon'':


Other issues

Rehnquist consistently defended state-sanctioned prayer in public schools. He held a restrictive view of criminals' and prisoners' rights and believed
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
to be constitutional.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 124. He supported the view that the Fourth Amendment permitted a warrantless search incident to a valid arrest.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 122. In '' Nixon v. Administrator of General Services'' (1977), Rehnquist dissented from a decision upholding the constitutionality of an act that gave a federal agency administrator certain authority over former President Nixon's presidential papers and tape recordings.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 113. He dissented solely on the ground that the law was "a clear violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers". During oral argument in '' Duren v. Missouri'' (1978), the Court faced a challenge to laws and practices that made jury duty voluntary for women in that state. At the end of
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...
's oral presentation, Rehnquist asked her, "You will not settle for putting Susan B. Anthony on the new dollar, then?" Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion in '' Diamond v. Diehr'', , which began a gradual trend toward overturning the ban on software patents in the United States first established in ''
Parker v. Flook ''Parker v. Flook'', 437 U.S. 584 (1978), was a 1978 United States Supreme Court decision that ruled that an invention that departs from the prior art only in its use of a mathematical algorithm is patent eligible only if there is some other "inve ...
'', . In '' Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.'', pertaining to video cassette recorders such as the Betamax system,
John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
wrote an opinion providing a broad fair use doctrine while Rehnquist joined the dissent supporting stronger copyrights. In ''
Eldred v. Ashcroft ''Eldred v. Ashcroft'', 537 U.S. 186 (2003), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States upholding the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). The practical result of this was to prevent a number ...
'', , Rehnquist was in the majority favoring the copyright holders, with Stevens and
Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and rep ...
dissenting in favor of a narrower construction of copyright law.


View of the rational basis test

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
law professor David Shapiro wrote that as an associate justice, Rehnquist disliked even minimal inquiries into legislative objectives except in the areas of race, national origin, and infringement of specific constitutional guarantees.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 115. For Rehnquist, the
rational basis test In U.S. constitutional law, rational basis review is the normal standard of review that courts apply when considering constitutional questions, including due process or equal protection questions under the Fifth Amendment or Fourteenth Amendme ...
was not a standard for weighing the interests of the government against the individual but a label to describe a preordained result. In 1978, Shapiro pointed out that Rehnquist had avoided joining rational basis determinations for years, except in one case, '' Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld''. In '' Trimble v. Gordon'', Rehnquist eschewed the majority's approach to equal protection, writing in dissent that the state's distinction should be sustained because it was not "mindless and patently irrational". (The Court struck down an Illinois law allowing illegitimate children to inherit by intestate succession only from their mothers.) Shapiro wrote that Rehnquist seemed content to find a sufficient relationship between a challenged classification and perceived governmental interests "no matter how tenuous or speculative that relationship might be".Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Page 116. A practical result of Rehnquist's view of rational basis can be seen in '' Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur'', wherein the Court's majority struck down a school board rule that required every pregnant teacher to take unpaid maternity leave beginning five months before the expected birth of her child. Lewis Powell had written an opinion resting on the ground that the school board rule was too inclusive to survive equal protection analysis. In dissent, Rehnquist attacked Powell's opinion, saying: Shapiro writes that Rehnquist's opinion implied: Rehnquist's dissent in '' United States Department of Agriculture v. Murry'' illuminates his view that a classification should pass muster under the rational basis test so long as that classification is not entirely counterproductive with respect to the purposes of the legislation in which it is contained.Friedman, Leon. ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'', Volume V. Chelsea House Publishers. 1978. Pages 116–117. Shapiro alleges that Rehnquist's stance "makes rational basis a virtual nullity".


Relations on the Court

Rehnquist developed warm personal relations with his colleagues, even with ideological opposites. William J. Brennan Jr. "startled one acquaintance by informing him that 'Bill Rehnquist is my best friend up here.'"David Garrow, "The Rehnquist Reins", ''New York Times'', October 6, 1996. Rehnquist and William O. Douglas bonded over a shared iconoclasm and love of the West.Undated 2003–04 ''
Charlie Rose Show ''Charlie Rose'' (also known as ''The Charlie Rose Show'') is an American television interview and talk show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show was syndicated on PBS from 1991 until 2017 and is owned ...
'' interview with Rehnquist.
''The Brethren'' claims that the Court's "liberals found it hard not to like the good-natured, thoughtful Rehnquist", despite finding his legal philosophy "extreme",Woodward & Armstrong, The Brethren 267 (2005) (1979 ed. at __). and that
Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas ...
regarded Rehnquist as "excellent" and "a "team player, a part of the group in the center of the court, even though he usually ended up in the conservative bloc".''The Brethren'', 2005 ed. at 498 (1979 ed. at ___). Since Rehnquist's first years on the Supreme Court, other justices criticized what they saw as his "willingness to cut corners to reach a conservative result", "gloss ngover inconsistencies of logic or fact" or distinguishing indistinct cases to reach their destination.''The Bretheren'', 2005 ed. at 268, 499 (1979 ed. at 407–8, __)Leon Friedman, ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'' (1978), page 121. In '' Jefferson v. Hackney'', for example, Douglas and
Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
charged that Rehnquist's opinion "misrepresented the legislative history"''The Brethren'', 2005 ed. at 268 (1979 ed. at 222). of a federal welfare program. Rehnquist did not correct what ''The Brethren'' characterizes as an "outright misstatement, ... nd thuspublish dan opinion that twisted the facts". His "misuse" of precedents in another case "shocked" Stevens.''The Brethren'', 2005 ed. at __ (1979 ed. at 222, 408. For his part, Rehnquist was often "contemptuous of Brennan's opinions", seeing them as "bending the facts or law to suit his purposes".''The Brethren'', 2005 ed. at 499. Rehnquist had a tense relationship with Marshall, who sometimes accused him of bigotry. In one incident, while discussing the case Plyler v. Doe, Rehnquist called undocumented immigrants " wetbacks", which angered Marshall. Rehnquist said that the term was common when and where he was growing up, to which Marshall replied that by that standard, Rehnquist ought to call him a nigger. Rehnquist usually voted with Chief Justice
Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
,''The Brethren'', 2005 ed. at __ (1979 ed. at 269). and, recognizing "the importance of his relationship with Burger", often went along to get along, joining Burger's majority opinions even when he disagreed with them, and, in important cases, "tr ingto straighten him out". Even so, being reluctant to compromise, Rehnquist was the most frequent sole dissenter during the Burger Court, garnering the nickname "the Lone Ranger".


Chief Justice


Nomination and confirmation as chief justice

When Burger retired in 1986, President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
nominated Rehnquist for chief justice. Although Rehnquist was far more conservative than Burger,Eisler, Kim Isaac (1993). ''A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the decisions that transformed America''. p. 272. New York: Simon & Schuster. "his colleagues were unanimously pleased and supportive", even his "ideological opposites". The nomination "was met with 'genuine enthusiasm on the part of not only his colleagues on the Court but others who served the Court in a staff capacity and some of the relatively lowly paid individuals at the Court. There was almost a unanimous feeling of joy.'" Thurgood Marshall later called him "a great chief justice". The nomination was submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 20, 1986. This was the first confirmation hearing on a chief justice nominee to be opened to gavel-to-gavel television coverage. During the hearing, Senator
Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
challenged Rehnquist on his unwitting ownership of property that had a
restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a s ...
against sale to JewsAlan S. Oser
"Unenforceable Covenants are in Many Deeds"
, ''New York Times'' (August 1, 1986).
Mr. Rehnquist has said he was unaware of discriminatory restrictions on properties he bought in Arizona and
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
, and officials in those states said today that he had never even been required to sign the deeds that contained the restrictions.... He told the committee he would act quickly to get rid of the covenants. The restriction on the Vermont property prohibits the lease or sale of the property to "members of the Hebrew race" ... The discriminatory language appears on the first page of the single-spaced document in the middle of a long paragraph filled with unrelated language regarding sewers and the construction of a mailbox.
(such covenants were held to be unenforceable under the 1948 Supreme Court case '' Shelley v. Kraemer''). Along with senators Joe Biden and Howard Metzenbaum, Kennedy called Rehnquist "insensitive to minorities and women's rights while on the court." Rehnquist also drew criticism for his membership in the Washington, D.C.
Alfalfa Club The Alfalfa Club is a social club that exists only to hold an annual black tie banquet on the last Saturday of January at the Capital Hilton in Washington D.C., with an after-party at a local restaurant. The banquet, which lasts 4 hours, feature ...
, which at the time did not allow women to join. On August 14, the Judiciary Committee voted 13–5 to report the nomination to the Senate with a favorable recommendation. Despite various Democrats' efforts to defeat the nomination, the Senate confirmed Rehnquist on September 17. After cloture was invoked in a 68–31 vote, Rehnquist was confirmed in a 65–33 vote (49 Republicans and 16 Democrats voted in favor; 31 Democrats and two Republicans voted against). He took office on September 26, becoming the first person since Harlan F. Stone to serve as both an associate justice and chief justice. Rehnquist's associate justice successor,
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
, was sworn into office that same day. Rehnquist had no prior experience as a judge upon his appointment to the Court. His only experience in presiding over a case at the trial level was in 1984, when Judge D. Dortch Warriner invited him to preside over a civil case, ''Julian D. Heislup, Sr. and Linda L. Dixon, Appellees, v. Town of Colonial Beach, Virginia, et al.'' Exercising the authority of a Supreme Court justice to preside over lower court proceedings, he oversaw the jury trial involving allegations that police department employees' civil rights were violated when they testified in a matter involving alleged police brutality against a teenage boy. Rehnquist ruled for the plaintiffs in a number of motions, allowing the case to go to the jury. When the jury found for the plaintiffs and awarded damages, the defendants appealed. The appeal was argued before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 4, 1986–16 days before Rehnquist was nominated as chief justice. Forty-three days after Rehnquist was sworn in as chief justice, the Fourth Circuit reversed the judgment, overruling Rehnquist, and concluding that there was insufficient evidence to have sent the matter to the jury.


Tenure as chief justice

In 1999, Rehnquist became the second chief justice (after
Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...
) to preside over a presidential
impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...
trial, during the proceedings against President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
. In 2000, he wrote a concurring opinion in '' Bush v. Gore'', the case that ended the presidential election controversy in Florida, agreeing with four other justices that the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
barred a "standardless" manual recount of the votes as ordered by the
Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...
. In his capacity as chief justice, Rehnquist administered the
Oath of Office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...
to the following presidents of the United States: * George H. W. Bush in 1989 *
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
in 1993 and 1997 * George W. Bush in 2001 and 2005


Leadership of the Court

Rehnquist tightened up the justices' conferences, keeping justices from going too long or off track and not allowing any justice to speak twice until each had spoken once, and gained a reputation for scrupulous fairness in assigning opinions: Rehnquist assigned no justice (including himself) two opinions before everyone had been assigned one, and made no attempts to interfere with assignments for cases in which he was in the minority. Most significantly, he successfully lobbied Congress in 1988 to give the Court control of its own docket, cutting back on mandatory appeals and certiorari grants in general.Toobin, Jeffrey. ''The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court''. New York: Anchor Books, 2007. Rehnquist added four yellow stripes to the sleeves of his robe in 1995. A lifelong fan of
Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
operas, he liked the
Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
's costume in a community theater production of ''
Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
'', and thereafter appeared in court with the same striped sleeves. (The Lord Chancellor was traditionally the senior member of the British judiciary.)Barrett, John Q
"A Rehnquist Ode on the Vinson Court"
'' The Green Bag'', Second Series, vol. 11, no. 3, p. 289, Spring 2008.
His successor, Chief Justice
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...
, chose not to continue the practice.McElroy, Lisa Tucker. ''John G. Roberts, Jr''. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2007.


Federalism doctrine

Scholars expected Rehnquist to push the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction during his tenure. Many commentators expected to see the federal government's power limited and state governments' power increased. But legal reporter Jan Crawford has said that some of Rehnquist's victories toward the federalist goal of scaling back congressional power over the states had little practical impact.Crawford, Jan. ''Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court''. 2007. Penguin Books. Page 29. Rehnquist voted with the majority in '' City of Boerne v. Flores'' (1997), and referred to that decision as precedent for requiring Congress to defer to the Court when interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment (including the Equal Protection Clause) in a number of cases. ''Boerne'' held that any statute that Congress enacted to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment (including the Equal Protection Clause) had to show "a congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end". The Rehnquist Court's congruence and proportionality theory replaced the "ratchet" theory that had arguably been advanced in ''
Katzenbach v. Morgan ''Katzenbach v. Morgan'', 384 U.S. 641 (1966), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the power of Congress, pursuant to Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, to enact laws that enforce and interpret provisions of ...
'' (1966). According to the ratchet theory, Congress could "ratchet up" civil rights beyond what the Court had recognized, but Congress could not "ratchet down" judicially recognized rights. According to the majority opinion of Justice
Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...
, which Rehnquist joined in ''Boerne'': The Rehnquist Court's congruence and proportionality standard made it easier to revive older precedents preventing Congress from going too far in enforcing equal protection of the laws. One of the Rehnquist Court's major developments involved reinforcing and extending the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which limits the ability of Congress to subject non-consenting states to lawsuits by individual citizens seeking money damages. In both ''
Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents ''Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents'', 528 U.S. 62 (2000), was a US Supreme Court case that determined that the US Congress's enforcement powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution did not extend to the abrogation of state sove ...
'' (2000) and ''
Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett ''Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett'', 531 U.S. 356 (2001), was a United States Supreme Court case about Congress's enforcement powers under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court deci ...
'' (2001), the Court held that Congress had exceeded its power to enforce the Equal Protection Clause. In both cases, Rehnquist was in the majority that held discrimination by states based upon age or disability (as opposed to race or gender) need satisfy only
rational basis review In U.S. constitutional law, rational basis review is the normal standard of review that courts apply when considering constitutional questions, including due process or equal protection questions under the Fifth Amendment or Fourteenth Amendme ...
as opposed to
strict scrutiny In U.S. constitutional law, when a law infringes upon a fundamental constitutional right, the court may apply the strict scrutiny standard. Strict scrutiny holds the challenged law as presumptively invalid unless the government can demonstrate th ...
. Though the Eleventh Amendment by its terms applies only to suits against a state by citizens of another state, the Rehnquist Court often extended this principle to suits by citizens against their own states. One such case was '' Alden v. Maine'' (1999), in which the Court held that the authority to subject states to private suits does not follow from any of the express enumerated powers in Article I of the Constitution, and therefore looked to the
Necessary and Proper Clause The Necessary and Proper Clause, also known as the Elastic Clause, is a clause in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution: Since the landmark decision '' McCulloch v. Maryland'', the US Supreme Court has ruled that this clause g ...
to see whether it authorized Congress to subject the states to lawsuits by the state's own citizens. Rehnquist agreed with Kennedy's statement that such lawsuits were not "necessary and proper": Rehnquist also led the Court toward a more limited view of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. For example, he wrote for a 5-to-4 majority in '' United States v. Lopez'', , striking down a federal law as exceeding congressional power under the Clause. ''Lopez'' was followed by ''
United States v. Morrison ''United States v. Morrison'', 529 U.S. 598 (2000), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that parts of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 were unconstitutional because they exceeded the powers granted to the US Congress under the Commer ...
'', , in which Rehnquist wrote the Court's opinion striking down the civil damages portion of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 as regulating conduct that has no significant direct effect on interstate commerce. Rehnquist's majority opinion in ''Morrison'' also rejected an
Equal Protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
argument on the Act's behalf. All four dissenters disagreed with the Court's interpretation of the Commerce Clause, and two dissenters, Stevens and Breyer, also took issue with the Court's Equal Protection analysis. David Souter asserted that the Court was improperly seeking to convert the judiciary into a "shield against the commerce power". Rehnquist's majority opinion in ''Morrison'' cited precedents limiting the Equal Protection Clause's scope, such as '' United States v. Cruikshank'' (1876), which held that the Fourteenth Amendment applied only to state actions, not private acts of violence. Breyer, joined by Stevens, agreed with the majority that it "is certainly so" that Congress may not "use the Fourteenth Amendment as a source of power to remedy the conduct of private persons", but took issue with another aspect of the ''Morrison'' Court's Equal Protection analysis, arguing that cases that the majority had cited (including ''
United States v. Harris ''United States v. Harris'', 106 U.S. 629 (1883), or the ''Ku Klux Kase'', was a case in which the US Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to penalize crimes such as assault and murder in most circumstances. ...
'' and the '' Civil Rights Cases'', regarding lynching and segregation, respectively) did not consider "this kind of claim" in which state actors "failed to provide adequate (or any) state remedies". In response, the ''Morrison'' majority asserted that the Violence Against Women Act was "directed not at any State or state actor, but at individuals who have committed criminal acts motivated by gender bias". The federalist trend ''Lopez'' and ''Morrison'' set was seemingly halted by ''
Gonzales v. Raich ''Gonzales v. Raich'' (previously ''Ashcroft v. Raich''), 545 U.S. 1 (2005), was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Congress may criminalize the production and use of homegrown ca ...
'' (2005), in which the Court broadly interpreted the Commerce Clause to allow Congress to prohibit the intrastate cultivation of
medicinal Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
. Rehnquist, O'Connor and Justice
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...
dissented in ''Raich''. Rehnquist authored the majority opinion in '' South Dakota v. Dole'' (1987), upholding Congress's reduction of funds to states not complying with the national 21-year-old drinking age. Rehnquist's broad reading of Congress's spending power was also seen as a major limitation on the Rehnquist Court's push to redistribute power from the federal government to the states.


''Stare decisis''

Some commentators expected the Rehnquist Court to overrule several controversial decisions broadly interpreting the Bill of Rights. But the Rehnquist Court expressly declined to overrule ''
Miranda v. Arizona ''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to ...
'' in ''
Dickerson v. United States ''Dickerson v. United States'', 530 U.S. 428 (2000), upheld the requirement that the Miranda warning be read to criminal suspects and struck down a federal statute that purported to overrule ''Miranda v. Arizona'' (1966). ''Dickerson'' is regarde ...
''. Rehnquist believed that federal judges should not impose their personal views on the law or stray beyond the framers' intent by reading broad meaning into the Constitution; he saw himself as an "apostle of judicial restraint".
Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
Professor Vincent Blasi said of Rehnquist in 1986 that " body since the 1930s has been so niggardly in interpreting the Bill of Rights, so blatant in simply ignoring years and years of precedent." In the same article, Rehnquist was quoted as retorting that "such attacks come from liberal academics and that 'on occasion, they write somewhat disingenuously about me'." Rehnquist disagreed with ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
''. In 1992, ''Roe'' survived by a 5–4 vote in ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of ''Roe v. Wade'' (1973) and is ...
'', which relied heavily on the doctrine of ''
stare decisis A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great va ...
''. Dissenting in ''Casey'', Rehnquist criticized the Court's "newly minted variation on ''stare decisis''", and asserted "that ''Roe'' was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled consistently with our traditional approach to ''stare decisis'' in constitutional cases". The Court decided another abortion case, this time dealing with
partial birth abortion Intact dilation and extraction (D&X, IDX, or intact D&E) is a surgical procedure that removes an intact fetus from the uterus. The procedure is used both after miscarriages and for abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. In U ...
, in ''Stenberg v. Carhart'' (2000). Again, the vote was 5–4, and again Rehnquist dissented, urging that ''stare decisis'' not be the sole consideration: "I did not join the joint opinion in ''Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey'', 505 U. S. 833 (1992), and continue to believe that case is wrongly decided."


LGBT rights

In a 1977 dissent in the case of Ratchford v. Gay Lib, Rehnquist gave weight to the
pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
notion that homosexuality is contagious. Rehnquist joined the majority opinion in
Bowers v. Hardwick ''Bowers v. Hardwick'', 478 U.S. 186 (1986), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld, in a 5–4 ruling, the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults, i ...
upholding the outlawing of gay sex acts as constitutional, but did not join Chief Justice Burger's openly homophobic concurrence. In '' Romer v. Evans'' (1996), Colorado adopted an amendment to the state constitution that would have prevented any municipality within the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect citizens from discrimination on the basis of their
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
. Rehnquist joined Scalia's dissent, which argued that since the Constitution says nothing about this subject, "it is left to be resolved by normal democratic means". The dissent argued as follows (some punctuation omitted): The dissent mentioned the Court's then-existing precedent in ''
Bowers v. Hardwick ''Bowers v. Hardwick'', 478 U.S. 186 (1986), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld, in a 5–4 ruling, the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults, i ...
'' (1986), that "the Constitution does not prohibit what virtually all States had done from the founding of the Republic until very recent years—making homosexual conduct a crime." By analogy, the ''Romer'' dissent reasoned that: The dissent listed murder,
polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is marr ...
, and cruelty to animals as behaviors that the Constitution allows states to be very hostile toward, and said, "the degree of hostility reflected by Amendment 2 is the smallest conceivable." It added: In ''
Lawrence v. Texas ''Lawrence v. Texas'', 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for consensual, adult non- procreative sexual activity (commonly referred to as sod ...
'' (2003), the Supreme Court overruled ''Bowers''. Rehnquist again dissented, along with Scalia and Thomas. The Court's result in ''Romer'' had described the struck-down statute as "a status-based enactment divorced from any factual context from which we could discern a relationship to legitimate state interests". The sentiment behind that statute had led the Court to evaluate it with a "more searching" form of review. Similarly, in ''Lawrence'', "moral disapproval" was found to be an unconstitutional basis for condemning a group of people. The Court protected homosexual behavior in the name of liberty and autonomy. Rehnquist sometimes reached results favorable to homosexuals−for example, voting to allow a gay
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
employee to sue on the basis of constitutional law for improper personnel practices (although barring suit on the basis of administrative law in deference to a claim of national security reasons),'' Webster v. Doe'', 486 U.S. 592 (1988). to allow same-sex
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fr ...
claims to be adjudicated,'' Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.'', 523 US 75 (1998). and to allow the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
to require students to pay a mandatory fee that subsidized gay groups along with other student organizations.
Board of Regents v. Southworth
'', 529 U.S. 217 (2000).
Because of his votes in gay rights cases,
ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy ...
included Rehnquist alongside
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, George H. W. Bush,
Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelism, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, ...
, and
Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committe ...
in a series of posters denouncing what it regarded as leading figures in the anti-gay movement in America.


Civil Rights Act

In '' Alexander v. Sandoval'' (2001), which involved the issue of whether a citizen could sue a state for not providing
driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a publi ...
exams in languages other than English, Rehnquist voted with the majority in denying a private right to sue for discrimination based on race or national origin involving disparate impact under Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requi ...
. ''Sandoval'' cited '' Cannon v. University of Chicago'' (1979) as precedent. The Court ruled 5–4 that various facts (regarding disparate impact) mentioned in a footnote of ''Cannon'' were not part of the holding of ''Cannon''. The majority also viewed it as significant that §602 of Title VI did not repeat the rights-creating language (race, color, or national origin) in §601.


Religion clauses

In 1992, Rehnquist joined a dissenting opinion in '' Lee v. Weisman'' arguing that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment only forbids government from preferring one particular religion over another. Souter wrote a separate concurrence specifically addressed to Rehnquist on this issue. Rehnquist also led the way in allowing greater state assistance to religious schools, writing another 5-to-4 majority opinion in '' Zelman v. Simmons-Harris'' that approved a school voucher program that aided church schools along with other private schools. In ''
Van Orden v. Perry ''Van Orden v. Perry'', 545 U.S. 677 (2005), was a United States Supreme Court case involving whether a display of the Ten Commandments on a monument given to the government at the Texas State Capitol in Austin violated the Establishment Clause ...
'' (2005), Rehnquist wrote the plurality opinion upholding the constitutionality of a display of the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
at the Texas state capitol in
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
. He wrote: This opinion was joined by Scalia, Thomas, Breyer, and Kennedy.


First Amendment

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
Professor Geoffrey Stone has written that Rehnquist was by an impressive margin the justice least likely to invalidate a law as violating "the freedom of speech, or of the press". Burger was 1.8 times more likely to vote in favor of the First Amendment; Scalia, 1.6 times; Thomas, 1.5 times. Excluding unanimous Court decisions, Rehnquist voted to reject First Amendment claims 92% of the time. In issues involving freedom of the press, he rejected First Amendment claims 100% of the time. Stone wrote: But, as he did in '' Bigelow v. Commonwealth of Virginia'', Rehnquist voted against freedom of advertising if an advertisement involved
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
or abortion.


Fourteenth Amendment

Rehnquist wrote a concurrence agreeing to strike down the male-only admissions policy of the
Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...
as violating the Equal Protection Clause,''United States v. Virginia''
, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
but declined to join the majority opinion's basis for using the Fourteenth Amendment, writing: This rationale supported facilities separated on the basis of gender: Rehnquist remained skeptical about the Court's Equal Protection Clause jurisprudence; some of his opinions most favorable to equality resulted from statutory rather than constitutional interpretation. For example, in '' Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson'' (1986), Rehnquist established a hostile-environment sexual harassment cause of action under Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requi ...
, including protection against psychological aspects of harassment in the workplace.


Legacy

Jeffery Rosen has argued that Rehnquist's "tactical flexibility was more effective than the rigid purity of Scalia and Thomas." Rosen writes: In ''The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist'', biographer
John A. Jenkins John A. Jenkins (born 1950-12-16) is an American journalist, author, and entrepreneur. He is Founder & CEO of Law Street Mediabr>and President & Publisher Emeritus of CQ Press in Washington, D.C. Prior to founding Law Street, a web-based media co ...
was critical of Rehnquist's history with racial discrimination. He noted that, as a private citizen, Rehnquist had protested '' Brown v. Board of Education'', and as a justice, consistently ruled against racial minorities in affirmative action cases. Only when white males began to make
reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term for discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of ethnicity, gender identity, nationality ...
claims did he become sympathetic to equal protection arguments. Charles Fried has described the Rehnquist Court's "project" as "to reverse not the course of history but the course of constitutional doctrine's abdication to politics". Legal reporter Jan Greenburg has said that conservative critics noted that the Rehnquist Court did little to overturn the left's successes in the lower courts, and in some cases actively furthered them.Greenburg, Jan Crawford. ''Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court''. 2007. Penguin Books. p. 29. But in 2005, law professor
John Yoo John Choon Yoo (; born July 10, 1967) is a Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions ...
wrote, "It is telling to see how many of Rehnquist's views, considered outside the mainstream at the time by professors and commentators, the court has now adopted."


Personal health

After Rehnquist's death in 2005, the FBI honored a
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
request detailing the Bureau's background investigation before Rehnquist's nomination as chief justice. The files reveal that for a period, Rehnquist had been addicted to
Placidyl Ethchlorvynol is a GABA-ergic sedative and hypnotic/soporific medication first developed by Pfizer in the 1950s. In the United States it was sold by Abbott Laboratories under the trade name Placidyl. Placidyl was available in 200 mg, 500& ...
, a drug widely prescribed for
insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...
. It was not until he was hospitalized that doctors learned of the extent of his dependency. Freeman Cary, a U.S. Capitol physician, prescribed Rehnquist Placidyl for insomnia and back pain from 1972 to 1981 in doses exceeding the recommended limits, but the FBI report concluded that Rehnquist was already taking the drug as early as 1970."Rehnquist FBI File Sheds New Light on Drug Dependence, Confirmation Battles"
. Tony Mauro. '' Legal Times''. January 4, 2007. Accessed January 4, 2007.
By the time he sought treatment, Rehnquist was taking three times the prescribed dose of the drug nightly.FBI releases Rehnquist drug problem records
, ''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
''
On December 27, 1981, Rehnquist entered
George Washington University Hospital The George Washington University Hospital is a for-profit hospital, located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is affiliated with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The current facility opened on ...
for treatment of back pain and Placidyl dependency. There, he underwent a monthlong
detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of ...
process. While hospitalized, he had typical withdrawal symptoms, including
hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinati ...
s and
paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...
. For example, "One doctor said Rehnquist thought he heard voices outside his hospital room plotting against him and had 'bizarre ideas and outrageous thoughts', including imagining 'a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
plot against him' and seeming to see the design patterns on the hospital curtains change configuration." For several weeks before his hospitalization, Rehnquist had slurred his words, but there were no indications he was otherwise impaired. Law professor Michael Dorf observed that "none of the Justices, law clerks or others who served with Rehnquist have so much as hinted that his Placidyl addiction affected his work, beyond its impact on his speech."Michael C. Dorf
"The Big News in the Rehnquist FBI File: There Is None"
, ''Findlaw's Writ'',_January_15,_2007.


Failing health and death

On October 26, 2004, the Supreme Court press office announced that Rehnquist had recently been diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer. In the summer of 2004, Rehnquist traveled to England to teach a constitutional law class at Tulane University Law School's program abroad. After several months out of the public eye, Rehnquist administered the oath of office to President George W. Bush at his second inauguration on January 20, 2005, despite doubts about whether his health would permit it. He arrived using a cane, walked very slowly, and left immediately after the oath was administered. Rehnquist missed 44 oral arguments before the Court in late 2004 and early 2005, returning to the bench on March 21, 2005. But during his absence, he remained involved in Court business, participating in many decisions and deliberations. On July 1, 2005, Justice O'Connor announced her impending retirement from the Court after consulting with Rehnquist and learning that he had no intention to retire. To a reporter who asked whether he would be retiring, Rehnquist replied, "That's for me to know and you to find out." Rehnquist died at his
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
, home on September 3, 2005, four weeks before his 81st birthday. He was the first justice to die in office since
Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as Unit ...
in 1954 and the first chief justice to die in office since
Fred M. Vinson Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...
in 1953. He was also the last serving justice appointed by Nixon. On September 6, 2005, eight of Rehnquist's former law clerks, including
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...
, his eventual successor, served as pallbearers as his casket was placed on the same catafalque that bore
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
's casket as he lay in state in 1865. Rehnquist's body lay in repose in the Great Hall of the
United States Supreme Court Building The Supreme Court Building houses the Supreme Court of the United States. Also referred to as "The Marble Palace," the building serves as the official workplace of the chief justice of the United States and the eight associate justices of th ...
until his funeral on September 7, a
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
service conducted at the
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., most commonly known as St. Matthew's Cathedral, is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. As St. Matthew's Cathedral and Rectory, it has been liste ...
in Washington, D.C. President George W. Bush and Justice O'Connor
eulogized A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or a ...
Rehnquist, as did members of his family. Rehnquist's funeral was the largest gathering of political dignitaries at the cathedral since President John F. Kennedy's funeral in 1963. It was followed by a private burial service, in which he was interred next to his wife, Nan, at
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.Arlington National Cemetery – Notable Graves
Christensen, George A., ''Journal of Supreme Court History'' Volume 33 Issue 1, pp. 17–41 (February 19, 2008), ''Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited'', University of Alabama.


Replacement as Chief Justice

Rehnquist's death, just over two months after O'Connor announced her impending retirement, left two vacancies for President Bush to fill. On September 5, 2005, Bush withdrew the nomination of John Roberts of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to replace O'Connor as associate justice and instead nominated him to replace Rehnquist as chief justice. Roberts was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in as the new chief justice on September 29, 2005. He had clerked for Rehnquist in 1980–81. O'Connor, who had made the effective date of her resignation the confirmation of her successor, continued to serve on the Court until Samuel Alito was confirmed and sworn in in January 2006. Eulogizing Rehnquist in the ''Harvard Law Review'', Roberts wrote that he was "direct, straightforward, utterly without pretense—and a patriot who loved and served his country. He was completely unaffected in manner."


Family life

Rehnquist's paternal grandparents immigrated separately from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
in 1880. His grandfather Olof Andersson, who changed his surname from the patronymic Andersson to the family name Rehnquist, was born in the province of Värmland; his grandmother was born Adolfina Ternberg in the Vreta Kloster, Vreta Kloster parish in Östergötland. Rehnquist is one of two chief justices of Swedish people, Swedish descent, the other being Earl Warren, who had Norwegian people, Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. Rehnquist married Natalie "Nan" Cornell on August 29, 1953. The daughter of a San Diego physician, she worked as an analyst on the CIA's Austria desk before their marriage. The couple had three children: James, a lawyer and college basketball star; Janet Rehnquist, Janet, a lawyer; and Nancy, an editor (including of her father's books) and homemaker. Nan Rehnquist died on October 17, 1991, aged 62, of ovarian cancer. Rehnquist was survived by nine grandchildren. Shortly after moving to Washington, D.C., the Rehnquists purchased a home in Greensboro, Vermont, where they spent many vacations.Obermayer, pp. 56–58


Books authored

* * * * *


See also

* List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States * List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Chief Justice) * List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9) * List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office * List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Burger Court * List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* *
Issue positions and quotes
at OnTheIssues * *
''Booknotes'' interview with David Savage on ''Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court'', June 28, 1992.
*
''Booknotes'' interview with Rehnquist on ''Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson'', July 5, 1992.

Profile
at Answers.com * "In Memoriam: William H. Rehnquist"
119 Harvard Law Review 2005
(tributes to Rehnquist)
Original source William Rehnquist FBI file


* William Rehnquist's FBI files, hosted at the Internet Archive: *
Part 1
*
Part 2
*
Part 3
*
Part 4
*
Part 5
*
Part 6

Supreme Court Associate Justice Nomination Hearings on William Hubbs Rehnquist in November 1971
United States Government Publishing Office
Supreme Court Chief Justice Nomination Hearings on William Hubbs Rehnquist in July 1986
United States Government Publishing Office


Opinions



– ''The Washington Post''

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehnquist, William 1924 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges American legal writers American Lutherans American male non-fiction writers Military personnel from Milwaukee United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American people of Swedish descent American political writers Legal historians Arizona Republicans Barry Goldwater Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Deaths from cancer in Virginia Chief justices of the United States Deaths from thyroid cancer Denison University alumni Harvard University alumni Kenyon College alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Phoenix, Arizona Lawyers from Milwaukee New Right (United States) People from Orleans County, Vermont People from Shorewood, Wisconsin Stanford Law School alumni Tulane University Law School faculty United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Assistant Attorneys General for the Office of Legal Counsel United States federal judges appointed by Richard Nixon United States federal judges appointed by Ronald Reagan Virginia Republicans Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Writers from Virginia Writers from Milwaukee Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni Historians from Wisconsin