When President Richard Nixon was elected in 1968, Rehnquist returned to work in Washington. He served as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel, from 1969 to 1971. In this role, he served as the chief lawyer to Attorney General John Mitchell. Nixon nominated Rehnquist to replace John Marshall Harlan II on the Supreme Court upon Harlan's retirement, and after being confirmed by the Senate by a 68-26 vote on December 10, 1971, Rehnquist took his seat as an Associate Justice on January 7, 1972. There were two vacancies on the court at the time; Nixon nominated Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. to fill the other.
On the Burger Court, Rehnquist promptly established himself as the most conservative of Nixon's appointees, taking a narrow view of the Fourteenth Amendment and a broad view of state power. He voted against the expansion of school desegregation plans and the establishment of legalized abortions (dissenting in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, and in favor of school prayer, capital punishment and states' rights.
Rehnquist wrote the decision Diamond v. Diehr, which made a hole in the dike against software patents in the United States erected by Justice Stevens in Parker v. Flook; the dike collapsed within a few years and software patenting is now virtually unlimited. In the Betamax case, again Justice Stevens authored the opinion upholding individual rights while Rehnquist joined the dissent who wished to strengthen copyright controls. In Eldred v. Ashcroft, Rehnquist was in the majority favoring the copyright holders, with Justice Stevens dissenting in favor of individuals.
When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, then-President Ronald Reagan nominated Rehnquist to fill the position. Despite some controversy, he was confirmed by the Senate by a 65-33 vote and assumed the office on September 26. Rehnquist's associate justice seat was filled by Antonin Scalia.
Since becoming Chief Justice, Rehnquist had continued to lead the Court's move towards taking a broader view of state powers in the U.S. federal system. 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 commerce clause. Rehnquist has also led the way in establishing more governmental leniency towards state aid for religion, writing for another 5-to-4 majority in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, approving a school voucher program that aided parochial schools.
Rehnquist also created a unique robe for himself as Chief Justice in 1994. It has four golden bars on each sleeve. In the past, Chief Justices had not dressed differently from any of the Associate Justices. Rehnquist's robe was modeled after a robe he had seen in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Iolanthe, first staged in London in 1882. The costume that inspired Chief Justice Rehnquist, an acknowledged Gilbert and Sullivan fan, is worn by the Lord Chancellor, a character called upon to settle a dispute among a colony of fairies.
In 1999, Rehnquist became the second Chief Justice (after Salmon P. Chase) to preside over a presidential impeachment trial, during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton.
Rehnquist was mentioned for many years as a possibility for the source known as Deep Throat during the 1970s Watergate scandal. In February 2005, it was revealed that Deep Throat was gravely ill, and, due to Rehnquist's advanced form of thyroid cancer, speculation intensified that Rehnquist was Deep Throat. However, on May 31, 2005, Bob Woodward confirmed that Deep Throat was W. Mark Felt.
I feel terrible because I'm glad he's off the Supreme court. It's too bad the only thing that could remove him was his death.
Rest in peace.
On the Burger Court, Rehnquist promptly established himself as the most conservative of Nixon's appointees, taking a narrow view of the Fourteenth Amendment and a broad view of state power. He voted against the expansion of school desegregation plans and the establishment of legalized abortions (dissenting in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, and in favor of school prayer, capital punishment and states' rights.
Rehnquist wrote the decision Diamond v. Diehr, which made a hole in the dike against software patents in the United States erected by Justice Stevens in Parker v. Flook; the dike collapsed within a few years and software patenting is now virtually unlimited. In the Betamax case, again Justice Stevens authored the opinion upholding individual rights while Rehnquist joined the dissent who wished to strengthen copyright controls. In Eldred v. Ashcroft, Rehnquist was in the majority favoring the copyright holders, with Justice Stevens dissenting in favor of individuals.
When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, then-President Ronald Reagan nominated Rehnquist to fill the position. Despite some controversy, he was confirmed by the Senate by a 65-33 vote and assumed the office on September 26. Rehnquist's associate justice seat was filled by Antonin Scalia.
Since becoming Chief Justice, Rehnquist had continued to lead the Court's move towards taking a broader view of state powers in the U.S. federal system. 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 commerce clause. Rehnquist has also led the way in establishing more governmental leniency towards state aid for religion, writing for another 5-to-4 majority in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, approving a school voucher program that aided parochial schools.
Rehnquist also created a unique robe for himself as Chief Justice in 1994. It has four golden bars on each sleeve. In the past, Chief Justices had not dressed differently from any of the Associate Justices. Rehnquist's robe was modeled after a robe he had seen in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Iolanthe, first staged in London in 1882. The costume that inspired Chief Justice Rehnquist, an acknowledged Gilbert and Sullivan fan, is worn by the Lord Chancellor, a character called upon to settle a dispute among a colony of fairies.
In 1999, Rehnquist became the second Chief Justice (after Salmon P. Chase) to preside over a presidential impeachment trial, during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton.
Rehnquist was mentioned for many years as a possibility for the source known as Deep Throat during the 1970s Watergate scandal. In February 2005, it was revealed that Deep Throat was gravely ill, and, due to Rehnquist's advanced form of thyroid cancer, speculation intensified that Rehnquist was Deep Throat. However, on May 31, 2005, Bob Woodward confirmed that Deep Throat was W. Mark Felt.
I feel terrible because I'm glad he's off the Supreme court. It's too bad the only thing that could remove him was his death.
Rest in peace.