Text 14887, 238 rader
Skriven 2005-09-04 06:37:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: A great man
===================
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168420,00.html

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dead 
Sunday, September 04, 2005
 
 
WASHINGTON — After battling cancer for the better part of the past year, 
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (search) died late Saturday evening, 
bringing to an end his lengthy time on the bench and opening a second 
vacancy on the Supreme Court. 

The death comes as senators in Washington prepare for the battle over 
the confirmation of President Bush's nominee for the seat vacated by 
Sandra Day O'Connor.

Rehnquist's death, however, is expected to lead to an even more 
contentious showdown, due largely to the chief justice's more 
conservative leanings, particularly when compared to Justice O'Connor's 
reputation as swing vote on the court.

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

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

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

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

The death leaves President Bush with his second court opening within 
four months.

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

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

Arberg said plans regarding funeral arrangements would be forthcoming.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rehnquist had an extraordinary career, with many historic milestones.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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