US Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies

[Pangloss]

Justice Rehnquist passed away tonight in his home. While not the court's oldest member, he had been suffering from post-cancer illness for some time, and was 80 years old. Recent rumors had surrounded his predicted retirement, especially after Sandra Day O'Conner retired at the end of the most recent Supreme Court session, but Rehnquist said he was staying on.

 

All of that's news you can find anywhere, but I thought I would just add a few comments of my own for the purposes of furthering political discussion here on the boards. I don't mean any disrespect in jumping right into a political discussion. I think it's a great loss to the country, but also a shame for another reason -- anybody who puts in that much service to his country deserves a long and healthy retirement. But it was what he wanted, and there's something to be said for that.

 

Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee, was generally considered to be part of a slim 5-4 conservative majority in the court. This is somewhat misleading, however, as he often contradicted the "conservative" label. In fact, any discussion you've ever heard about how the court "defies" those liberal/conservative labels generally begins with the service of Justice Rehnquist. That fascinating story, and what it meant to Nixon and his supporters, is deserving of whole hours of discussion in itself.

 

In brief, Rehnquist favored the death penalty and state's rights over federal government, but only to a point, and he supported gay rights and free speech. I've always considered him a personal role model, in terms of being able to set aside ideology in favor of fairness and impartiality.

 

As has been pointed out in many places, he presided over the impeachment of President Clinton in 1999. What you (probably) won't read in other places is an irony that represented: Rehnquist had written one of the definitive histories of the impeachment of President Jackson, the only other time an American president has been impeached.

 

I believe Rehnquist wrote three books, all histories, including the interesting "All the Laws But One", written just a few years before 9/11, about various acts involving the of suspension of civil liberties in American history. (I couldn't understand why it began with Lincoln rather than Adams, but never mind.) His style was academic and perhaps even "dry", but the man could practically reference himself when it came to expertise.

 

I believe Rehnquist actually used this famous quote from Cicero in his book, and it seems appropriate to repeat it now:

 

"Inter arma silent leges."

 

("In times of war, the law falls silent.")