Rehnquist Leaves Conservative Legacy
Sept. 3, 2005 — -- William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the United States, earned the reputation of a staunch conservative in his 33 years on the Supreme Court.
Rehnquist died Saturday at his home in Arlington, Va., surrounded by his three children. He had battled thryroid cancer for nearly a year.
"He is the justice who spoke in favor of states' rights and re-empowering the states," Bill Marshall, who served as deputy White House counsel and deputy assistant to the president during the Clinton administration and now teaches at the University of North Carolina School of Law, said in a phone interview.
"That's going to be his No. 1 legacy."
Among many notable opinions, he was one of two justices who dissented in the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which legalized abortion in the United States. He also presided over the court when it ruled to halt the manual vote recount in Florida during the 2000 presidential election and in favor of school vouchers.
Rehnquist was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in Milwaukee to William Benjamin Rehnquist, a paper salesman, and Margery Peck Rehnquist.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a weather observer in North Africa from 1943 to 1946, then attended Stanford University with the support of scholarships from the G.I. Bill. Rehnquist received both bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford, then returned to the university for law school after earning a second master's degree from Harvard University.
Rehnquist graduated first in the Stanford Law School Class of 1952 (future Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day graduated third), and clerked for Justice Robert H. Jackson, who was known as one of the court's more conservative thinkers.
Rehnquist began his political career while working for a law firm in Phoenix. He became a Republican Party official and earned a reputation as an opponent of liberal initiatives, including school integration.
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