Rehnquist

Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Dead at 80

The most powerful judge in the nation has died. Chief Justice William Rehnquist died September 3rd. He was 80-years-old.

Rehnquist was Chief Justice of the United States. He was the head of the Supreme Court.    His passing leaves two openings on the nine-member Court. Just weeks before Rehnquist's death, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced she plans to leave the bench to care for her sick husband

Rehnquist was born in Milwaukee. He graduated from Shorewood High School in 1942. Shorewood is a northern suburb of Milwaukee. He announced last October that he was suffering from thyroid cancer.

Rehnquist was an attorney for the federal government before he joined the court. President Richard Nixon appointed Rehnquist to the nation's highest court in 1971. The United States Senate voted to confirm the appointment. Rehnquist took his seat as an Associate Justice in January of 1972.

President Ronald Reagan named Rehnquist to the top position on the court in 1986. Rehnquist replaced Chief Justice Warren Burger when Burger retired. The Senate confirmed Rehnquist's appointment.

The nation has had 16 Chief Justices. The 19 years that Rehnquist served as Chief Justice was the third longest term of any of the 16 heads of the court.

Rehnquist may be remembered the longest for a ruling that decided the race for president in 2000. The election was between Republican candidate George Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

The results were very close.  

Bush appeared to have won Florida by a small number of votes. The Florida Supreme Court ordered that the votes be counted again. But the nation's highest court voted 5-to-4 to stop the recount.

Rehnquist was one of the five Justices who voted to over rule the Florida court. The decision meant that the early count stood. That count gave the victory to Bush.

Justice O'Connor said she will leave the bench when a replacement has been confirmed by the Senate.

The two vacancies on the Supreme Court give George W. Bush a unique opportunity to make two nominations to the Court that could influencegenerations to come.

Supreme Court judges remain on the bench for a lifetime.   The replacements for Rehnquist and O'Connor will likely serve on the Supreme Court for another 40 years.   That is why many people believe that the Supreme Court choices will be the most important decisions of the Bush presidency.