[Mb-civic] Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dies - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist Dies

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 4, 2005; Page A01

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th chief justice of the United States, 
died last night at his home in Arlington. He was 80.

Rehnquist, who had been suffering from thyroid cancer since last 
October, had managed to lead the court through its last term, which 
ended in June. But he went through "a precipitous decline in his health 
in the last couple of days," Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Rehnquist's death comes as the Senate is preparing for hearings on 
President Bush's nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Sandra Day 
O'Connor as an associate justice. Those hearings are set to begin on 
Tuesday. O'Connor, 75, announced her retirement on July 1, effective 
upon the confirmation of a successor.

President Bush must now name a replacement for Rehnquist, and the 
process of selecting and confirming a new justice will probably last 
past the first day of the court's new term, Oct. 3. That means that even 
if Roberts is swiftly confirmed, the court will be operating with only 
eight members for an indefinite period.

Tie votes on the court result in the automatic affirmance of the lower 
court's ruling in the court, but do not establish a legal precedent.

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301911.html?referrer=email
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