Chief Justice Rehnquist - Rest in Peace

Chief Justice William Rehnquist passed away last night. Chief Rehnquist was a valuable public servant having served a third of a century on the Supreme Court. However, beyond that he also served our country in the Army during World War II and as Deputy Attorney General. There will be time to discuss a replacement on the court. This is not that time. Now is time to wish his family well and to reflect on his career.

It will be interesting to see how Rehnquist and his court will be remembered over the next week or so. Today most news commentary has stated that he lead a shift towards a more conservative court. However, I'm not sure history will show that the court over the past couple decades achieved much more than a slowing of the extreme leftward drift of the judicial branch of government which began in the 1930's. On matters of criminal justice, despite Rehnquist's solid reputation of being a believer in law and order it is clear that the criminals have a upper hand on society in the legal system. A convicted murderer will spend nearly 20 years on death row as lawyers comb over every comma of the court transcript looking for a technicality on which to base a frivolous appeal. On the major social issue of the day, abortion, Chief Rehnquist dissented on the original decision of Roe v. Wade. Just as the Taney court was judged by Dred Scott and other immoral decisions holding humans are property the current court will be looked on in disdain for it's role in legalalizing infanticide.