"We Love You, William Hubbs Rehnquist": Chief Justice Rehnquist, R.I.P.

This past Wednesday, September 7, 2005, funeral services were held for the Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist. The funeral took place at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and was attended by over 1,000 people. It was followed by a private burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The mourners at the funeral included various dignitaries and elected officials, including President Bush. More importantly, numerous federal judicial luminaries were in attendance: the eight remaining members of the Supreme Court, including Justice Souter and Justice Kennedy (who were out-of-town and unable to attend Tuesday's ceremonies at One First Street); the likely newest member of the Court, SCOTUS nominee John G. Roberts; and a number of lower-court judges. (Please feel free to share any judicial sight-ations in the comments to this post.)

The Rehnquist funeral was, by all accounts, an extraordinary event celebrating the life of an extraordinary man. Article III Groupie has read several excellent stories about the memorial service, featuring a surfeit of juicy tidbits and fun facts about the late and much-loved Chief (too numerous to mention here, so just go read these stories):

--SCOTUSblog (Lyle Denniston);

--Legal Times (Tony Mauro);

--The Washington Post (Charles Lane)

--The New York Times (Todd S. Purdum);

--The Los Angeles Times (David G. Savage); and

--The Associated Press (collecting especially interesting remarks).

Taken together, what these accounts reflect is that Chief Justice Rehnquist was a federal judge after A3G's own heart. Unlike most law bloggers, A3G focuses her attention not on desiccated legal policies or principles, but on people. And based on the way he lived his life -- including, for example, his emphasis on the personal as well as the professional in hiring his law clerks -- the Chief clearly understood that flesh-and-blood human beings, not sterile legal abstractions, must come first.

Another reason that Chief Justice Rehnquist will always have a special place in A3G's heart is his fierce and unwavering dedication to her cherished Article III judiciary. Reasonable minds can differ over whether William Rehnquist was a great justice of the Supreme Court (in terms of his votes, opinions, and overall jurisprudence). But there is simply no disputing that William Rehnquist was a great Chief Justice of the United States.

As the leader of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Rehnquist kept things running efficiently and exceptionally well at One First Street. As the leader of the entire federal judiciary, he strengthened and protected the federal courts as an institution. Like a lion defending his cubs, he rushed to the aid of embattled lower-court judges, roaring back when silly politicians from those icky elected branches dared to criticize the life-tenured deities of Article III. In sum, the federal courts could not have asked for a better leader, defender, and champion than the Chief.

Finally, since A3G was caught a little flat-footed by Chief Justice Rehnquist's passing over the long weekend, she would like to say a few words about the event itself. Although deeply saddening, the Chief's death was not completely unexpected. First, he had been heroically battling anaplastic thyroid cancer, one of the most serious types of thyroid cancer, for almost a year. The fact that the Chief survived for as long as he did with this cancer is a testament to his resilience and his courage. He struggled against that awful disease with unfailing grace and good humor. (As Justice O'Connor recounted at the funeral, when an emergency room doctor who saw Chief Justice Rehnquist in the last week of his life asked him who his primary care doctor was, the Chief quipped: "My dentist.")

Second, for those of you who (foolishly) doubt astrology, please note that Chief Justice Rehnquist was a Libra. The Libra horoscope for this month informed Libras that they will "need a bit more rest in the weeks that follow" the new moon on September 3. Uncannily enough, Chief Justice Rehnquist passed away on the evening of September 3rd. Now he enjoys some well-deserved eternal rest, at the great big courthouse in the sky.

As for final parting words for the dearly departed Chief, A3G can't say it any better than Justice O'Connor: "I think the chief bet he could live out another term despite his illness. He lost that bet, as did all of us, but he won all the prizes for a life well-lived. We love you, William Hubbs Rehnquist."

Comments

I don't get his quip about his primary care doctor being his dentist? can someone please explain?

[S D Watson]

I originally sent this to you via e-mail, but it bounced back to me today (weird). Anyway, in response to your query re: pallbearers for WHR-

this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090600630.html

has a photo w/ caption identifying the pallbearers. My research revealed the following:

James Duff was a one-time administrative assistant to WHR and is currently managing partner at Baker Donalson;

John Englander (former WHR clerk) is a partner and co-chair of Litigation at Goodwin Procter;

Gregory Garre (former WHR clerk) is a partner at Hogan & Hartson; he worked in OSG from 2000-2004;

Frederick Lambert (former WHR clerk) is a professor at UC-Hastings College of Law;

Kerri Martin Bartlett was at DOJ, but not sure what she’s doing now. No information available on Ronald Tentas. Hope this helps!

BTW, great blog.

I believe several D.C. Circuit judges were there, but I'm not sure which ones.