William Rehnquist biography

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Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Born William Donald Rehnquist on October 1, 1924 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The son of a paper salesman, William Rehnquist briefly attended Kenyon College in Ohio before serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war ended, Rehnquist received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in political science from Stanford University. He went on to receive his master’s in government from Harvard University and his law degree from Stanford Law School.

From 1952 to 1953, Rehnquist worked as a law clerk for Justice Robert H. Jackson. During that time, he wrote a memo defending the separate-but-equal doctrine, later claiming it reflected Justice Jackson’s views and not his own. From1953 to 1969, Rehnquist was in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona and became active in the Republican Party. He returned to Washington in 1968 after President Richard Nixon took office.

Rehnquist served as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1969 to 1971. In this capacity, he supported such controversial measures as pre-trial detention and wire-tapping, impressing President Nixon, who appointed him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1972. The most conservative of Nixon's appointees, Rehnquist voted against school desegregation and legalized abortions and in favor of school prayer, capital punishment and states' rights.

When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Rehnquist to fill the position, and the Senate confirmed his appointment 65-33. His associate justice seat was filled by Antonin Scalia. After 1989, when a ‘new right’ majority had been established by President Reagan, Rehnquist framed a series of conservative rulings on abortion, affirmative action, and capital punishment. During his tenure as Chief Justice, Rehnquist presided over the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton and the Bush v. Gore election decision. Although he was expected to push the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction during his tenure, the Rehnquist Court specifically declined to overrule Roe v. Wade and Miranda v. Arizona.

On October 26, 2004, Rehnquist announced that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. With the exception of administering the oath of office to President George W. Bush at his second inauguration in 2005, he was largely absent from the bench, but remained in office, until his death on September 3, 2005. He was replaced by John Roberts, a former Rehnquist clerk, on September 29, 2005.