YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE APOPLECTIC ABOUT KATRINA?:

WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST|1924-2005: Chief Justice, 80, Led Court on a Conservative Path (David G. Savage, September 4, 2005, LA Times)

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who steered the Supreme Court on a more conservative course during more than 33 years on the bench and who presided over the impeachment trial of one president and helped elect another, died Saturday at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 80.

Rehnquist had been in failing health since he was diagnosed in October with thyroid cancer. An announcement from the court late Saturday said the chief justice had experienced "a precipitous decline in his health in the last couple of days" and died in the evening, surrounded by his three children.

Rehnquist's death came on the eve of confirmation hearings for President Bush's first Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G. Roberts, whose first job in Washington was as a clerk for then-Justice Rehnquist.

The president will now have a second seat to fill on the high court, and the timing of Rehnquist's death may complicate the choice.

Earlier this year, many conservatives in Washington had cited Roberts as a likely choice for chief justice had Rehnquist retired, as expected at the end of this year's term in late June. Instead, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor surprised the White House by announcing her retirement.

About three weeks later, Bush then surprised many observers by nominating Roberts, rather than choosing a woman to fill the seat of the first woman to serve on the high court.

Nothing would prevent the president from changing course slightly and nominating Roberts to be chief justice.

Chief Justice Rehnquist dies: Passing of conservative voice creates 2d Supreme Court vacancy (Charlie Savage, September 4, 2005, Boston Globe)

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who turned the nation's highest court in a conservative direction, curbing what he considered excessive judicial activism under his two predecessors, died yesterday at his home in Arlington, Va., after a nearly yearlong battle with cancer.

The death of Rehnquist, 80, creates a second vacancy on the Supreme Court just two days before the scheduled start of hearings into President Bush's nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The new opening raises the stakes in the Roberts nomination by giving Bush an additional opportunity to leave his own conservative stamp on the court, according to activists preparing for next week's hearings

Nevermind hurricanes, now the Left can work themselves into a real tizzy.

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Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at 80 (LINDA GREENHOUSE, 9/04/05, NY Times)

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday night of the thyroid cancer he had battled for nearly a year, opening a second Supreme Court vacancy just days before Senate confirmation hearings were to begin to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Kathleen Arburg, the court's public information officer, said Chief Justice Rehnquist, 80, had died at his home in Arlington, Va., surrounded by his three children. She said he had been working at the court during the summer recess until his health declined a "precipitous decline" in the last few days. (Obituary)

Although the chief justice was known to be seriously ill with the thyroid cancer, which was diagnosed last October, his death at this moment came as a surprise. Six weeks ago, with rumors swirling that he would soon retire, he issued an unusual statement declaring that he would continue to serve as chief justice "as long as my health permits."

His death on the eve of the confirmation hearings for Judge John G. Roberts Jr., set to begin Tuesday, raised the prospect that President Bush might transfer Judge Roberts's nomination, making him a candidate for chief justice instead. Judge Roberts was a law clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist, who was then an associate justice, during the court's 1980 term.

The White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, said President Bush had been informed of the chief justice's death shortly before 11 p.m.

"The President and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened at the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist. His family is in their thoughts and prayers," the White House said in a statement.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dies (Charles Lane, September 4, 2005, Washington Post)

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

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

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

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

Rehnquist leaves a towering legacy.

-Rehnquist dies at 80 (Guy Taylor, September 4, 2005, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Rumors that Justice Rehnquist was on the verge of retirement have been circulating for more than a year in Washington.

But he refused to retire, even after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and continued to perform his duties until his final days.

Justice Rehnquist was part of five-justice majority that ended the 2000 election crisis and placed George W. Bush in the White House.

But historians will undoubtedly look back on his broader role in leading the court's conservative shift over the past three decades.

Justice Rehnquist served 33 years on the high court. For the past 19, he has been chief justice, the longest tenure of any chief justice since John Marshall served in the position during the early 1800s.

He served in the Air Force as a sergeant in North Africa during World War II. His legal career began when he was fresh from Stanford Law School, as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.

The young clerk had graduated at the top of the historic Stanford class of 1952, the same year as Justice O'Connor, who was third in the class.

After later practicing private law in Arizona, Justice Rehnquist served as an assistant attorney general under President Nixon, who chose him for the Supreme Court in 1971.

He was sworn in in January 1972, about a year before the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion.

Raised a Lutheran in a middle-class Milwaukee family, Justice Rehnquist quickly asserted himself as one not to stray from his conservative roots.

He and then-Justice Byron White were the only dissenters in Roe v. Wade.

Justice Rehnquist was known for his commitment to promoting federalism -- the process of protecting the power of the individual states from the federal government.

He also presided over a massive institutional change, in which the court exercised a philosophy known as "judicial restraint," as opposed to the activism of earlier years -- for which the court is now criticized for making laws instead of interpreting them.

When he became chief justice, the Supreme Court was disposing of an average of about 170 to 180 cases during a routine term.

During recent years that number has dropped significantly to about 80 cases a term.

Those who worked under Rehnquist describe a reputation of never disrespecting litigants in an oral arguments or his peers despite his own often superior command of legal and American history.

"He's definitely a genius in terms of his intellectual capacities. It's awesome, it's really mind-boggling," said Charles J. Cooper, a Washington lawyer who served as a clerk for Justice Rehnquist during the late-1970s.

Mr. Cooper recalled that in his first days working for Justice Rehnquist, he spent days researching a case before calling to update his boss, who at the time was on summer vacation in Vermont.

Justice Rehnquist received the call and listened patiently, telling Mr. Cooper that while his findings were all very interesting, the young clerk may have overlooked something.

From his own memory, Justice Rehnquist then directed Mr. Cooper to a specific page in a specific volume of the Supreme Court's archives.

"He told me the volume and the name and said, 'I think you'll find that to bear on the subject,' " Mr. Cooper said, adding that after overlooking the case during their own vigorous research, he and his fellow clerks were amazed find an "obscure" opinion buried in the records exactly where their boss had said it would be.

"I just remember being stunned," Mr. Cooper said. "We all looked at each other and thought, 'What good are we to this man?' "

-Rehnquist death gives Bush chance to shape court (Jackie Frank, 9/04/05, Reuters)

The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist creates a rare double opening on the U.S. Supreme Court, giving President George W. Bush the chance to make a significant mark on the federal judiciary.

Rehnquist, a conservative force who pushed the closely divided nine-member court to the right in his more than 30 years on the bench, died on Saturday at age 80 after a battle with thyroid cancer.

His death came just a month before the court was to open its new session, and just days before the U.S. Senate was to open hearings on appeals court Judge John Roberts, chosen in July by Bush to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who has announced her resignation.

Not since 1971 has the court had two openings, but O'Connor has pledged to remain on the bench until her successor is confirmed by the Senate, assuring the court will open with at least eight members in October.

-Who will be the next chief justice? (AP, 9/04/05)

Bush plucked Roberts from an ever-changing slate of about a dozen candidates, including five Bush interviewed in person. Court watchers have been combing this slate for hints about whom Bush might pick next. Besides Roberts, Bush interviewed federal appellate judges Edith Clement and J. Harvie Wilkinson. The identity of the other two interviewees remains unclear.

The list of those who sat down for face-to-face talks with Bush, however, was not necessarily the president's short list. He said he needed to interview only candidates he did not already know. There has also been speculation that Bush already knew he wanted Roberts and was interviewing other candidates in case he was faced with filling another seat.

Before Bush nominated Roberts, almost six in 10 Americans polled said it was important for him to nominate a woman. Laura Bush urged her husband to appoint a woman to fill O'Connor's seat. And the retiring O'Connor, the first female justice, said Roberts was "first-rate," but not a woman.

Politics will play a role, too. If Bush wants to put an ultraconservative on the high court, his nominee will have to weather a confirmation brawl in the Senate. With approval ratings the lowest of his presidency, Bush may not be ready for that.

Others mentioned as serious contenders for O'Connor's spot included Larry Thompson, a former deputy attorney general who is a top lawyer for PepsiCo; Edith Jones, a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans; Samuel Alito, a federal appellate judge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Michael Luttig, a federal appellate judge in Richmond, Virginia; and Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard University professor.

Mary Ann Glendon would be a great call.

-President's Statement on the Death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist (George W. Bush, The Roosevelt Room, 9/04/05)

THE PRESIDENT: Our nation is saddened today by the news that Chief Justice William Rehnquist passed away last night. Laura and I send our respect and deepest sympathy to this good man's children, Jim, Janet, and Nancy. We send our respect to all the members of the Rehnquist family.

William H. Rehnquist was born and raised in Wisconsin. He was the grandson of Swedish immigrants. Like so many of his generation, he served in the Army during World War II. He went on to college with the help of the G.I. Bill. He studied law at Stanford University. He graduated first in his class, that included his future colleague, Sandra Day O'Connor. Judge Rehnquist, and his late wife, Nan, raised their family in Phoenix, where he built a career as one of Arizona's leading attorneys. He went on to even greater distinction in pubic service as an assistant U.S. attorney general, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and for the past 19 years, Chief Justice of the United States.

He was extremely well respected for his powerful intellect. He was respected for his deep commitment to the rule of law and his profound devotion to duty. He provided superb leadership for the federal court system, improving the delivery of justice for the American people, and earning the admiration of his colleagues throughout the judiciary.

Even during a period of illness, Chief Justice Rehnquist stayed on the job to complete the work of his final Supreme Court term. I was honored and I was deeply touched when he came to the Capitol for the swearing-in last January. He was a man of character and dedication. His departure represents a great loss for the Court and for our country.

There are now two vacancies on the Supreme Court, and it will serve the best interests of the nation to fill those vacancies promptly. I will choose in a timely manner a highly qualified nominee to succeed Chief Justice Rehnquist. As we look to the future of the Supreme Court, citizens of this nation can also look with pride and appreciation on the career of our late Chief Justice.

More than half a century has passed since William H. Rehnquist first came to the Supreme Court as a young law clerk. All of his years William Rehnquist revered the Constitution and laws of the United States. He led the judicial branch of government with tremendous wisdom and skill. He honored America with a lifetime of service, and America will honor his memory.

May God bless the Rehnquist family. Thank you all very much.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 4, 2005 9:07 AM