Chief Justice William Rehnquist dies at 80

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... y2/3338683

Sept. 3, 2005, 10:36PM

Chief Justice William Rehnquist dies at 80
By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening at his home in suburban Virginia, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg. A statement from the spokeswoman said he was surrounded by his three children when he died in Arlington.

``The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his dues on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days,'' she said.

Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1982. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.

His death ends a remarkable 33-year Supreme Court career during which Rehnquist oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election.

The death President Bush his second court opening within pour months and sets up what's expected to be an even more bruising Senate confirmation battle than that of John Roberts.

Rehnquist, 80 and ill with cancer, 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.

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.

BIO BOX
WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST

BIRTH DATE: Oct. 1, 1924.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's and master's degree, Stanford University, 1948; master's degree, Harvard University, 1949; law degree, Stanford University, 1952.

CAREER: U.S. Army Air Corps soldier, 1943-46; law clerk to Justice Robert H. Jackson, 1951-53; private practice in Phoenix, Ariz., 1953-69; assistant U.S. attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel, 1969-71; named to Supreme Court by President Nixon, 1972; elevated to chief justice by President Reagan, 1986.

MAJOR CASES: Bush v. Gore, making George W. Bush president in 2000; cases allowing the use of public money for religious institutions, boosting authority of the states and greater government powers for police searches.

FAMILY: Married to Natalie Cornell, now deceased; three children.
Multimedia:
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Multimedia, bio information courtesy Associated Press

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