# Rehnquist is dead. Let the scretching begin. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982 "2005-09-04T02:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/21 "2005-09-04T05:20:41Z")
The man died HOURS ago. I would hope that even my enemies would let my friends mourn for a full day. Jesus, people. ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/22 "2005-09-04T05:22:01Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > The man died HOURS ago. > > I would hope that even my enemies would let my friends mourn for a full day. When bad things happen to bad people, I don’t mourn, I celebrate. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/23 "2005-09-04T05:38:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > back-alley abortions, segregated lunch counters, women won’t be able to vote land, witchs & heritics will be burned at the stake, etc Cats and dogs sleeping together, mass hysteria. Seriously, though, my thoughts and prayers are with his family tonight. He served on the bench a long long time. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/24 "2005-09-04T05:40:39Z")
> [@markdiscordia](#): > > When bad things happen to bad people, I don’t mourn, I celebrate. What is it like to know exactly what is in every mans heart? Was everyone close to him a bad person? Are you celebrating their heartaches as well? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/25 "2005-09-04T05:50:13Z")
> [@markdiscordia](#): > > When bad things happen to bad people, I don’t mourn, I celebrate. Please do it somewhere else, then. That said, it is odd, I suppose, that I’ve never thought of the late CJ as _having_ family and friends. I guess he was a man who valued his privacy. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/26 "2005-09-04T06:04:35Z")
I rarely agreed fully with much of Rehnquist’s performance but he served long and honorably. He was the reasoned counterbalance through a pendulum swing to the other ideological extreme…or at least as far as that swing sweeps in the US. He was conservative when conservative wasn’t cool. It’s sad that his tenure ended allied with increasingly dubious extremists. Rest in well deserved peace, Rehnquist. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/27 "2005-09-04T06:53:28Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > I rarely agreed fully with much of Rehnquist’s performance but he served long and honorably. He was the reasoned counterbalance through a pendulum swing to the other ideological extreme…or at least as far as that swing sweeps in the US. He was conservative when conservative wasn’t cool. It’s sad that his tenure ended allied with increasingly dubious extremists. > > Rest in well deserved peace, Rehnquist. That’s what scares me too. I lean pretty far to the left, but i don’t advocate that, nor the same extreme to the right. Rehnquist provided a balance, a mass at the center, which kept the court from flying off into space. Now that he is gone, and my fears of who Bush might replace him with, who knows where the equilibrium of the court might land… uncertain times… ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/28 "2005-09-04T08:03:53Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Please do it somewhere else, then. Did I make a wrong turn? This is the BBQ Pit, is it not? There is nothing moderate or reasonable or redeeming about William Rehnquist the man or the lawyer. [http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20001202roddy.asp](http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20001202roddy.asp) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/29 "2005-09-04T11:43:47Z")
I hope his passing wasn’t too painful, I don’t wish a prolonged death on anyone. Although he was on the opposite side of the spectrum from myself, there was nothing to suggest he was dishonorable. That being said, he was a right winger and will be replaced by another. No real impact on the court. Bush’s plummeting political capital will moderate the choice somewhat. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/30 "2005-09-04T13:46:16Z")
I don’t know. Do you think Scalia might make a decent Chief? He’s on the court already. He’s got a fantastic legal mind. And he goes where his philosophy takes him, ruling against certain things when you don’t expect him to. He strikes me as the ‘least bad’ case. Rest in peace, Mr. Rehnquist. History will remember you well… and you wanted that, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/31 "2005-09-04T14:50:28Z")
No comment from Pat Robertson yet? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/32 "2005-09-04T14:56:10Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I don’t know. Do you think Scalia might make a decent Chief? He’s on the court already. He’s got a fantastic legal mind. And he goes where his philosophy takes him, ruling against certain things when you don’t expect him to. He is certainly eminently qualified. But I just don’t see the importance of being CJ. Their votes don’t count any more than anyone elses. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/33 "2005-09-04T17:43:51Z")
> [@](#): > > He is certainly eminently qualified. But I just don’t see the importance of being CJ. Their votes don’t count any more than anyone elses. It’s an important position: the actual title is Chief Justice of the United States, emphasizing the status of the Judiciary Branch as a co-equal branch of the government. If a President is impreached, the CJ presides over the Senate trial (as Justice Rehnquist did with President Clinton). If the CJ is in the majority in a decision, he can write the opinion himself, or designate an associate justice to write it; some of the great SCOTUS written opinions have influenced constitutional thinking for decades. He’s head of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., and has several other duties. (Including being Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution.) The Court looks to the Chief Justice to be a good organizer. Justice Rehnquist was considered an excellent Chief Justice even by people (like me) who disagreed with most of his decisions on actual cases. (Though actually, like many of us, earlier this year I was suprised to find myself on the same side as Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas in regards the eminent domain case.) ---
**Author:** ![angrydonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@angrydonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angrydonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/34 "2005-09-04T18:16:16Z")
Actually Rehnquist died a week ago. FEMA just found the body last night. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/35 "2005-09-04T18:25:51Z")
Considering that it’s happened before that a conservative president makes an appointment that turns out to make kinda liberal decisions, this could actually end up sending the court leftward a bit. We _know_ Rehnquist was conservative, but Bush’s replacement might surprise him like other presidents have been surprised by their pics. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/36 "2005-09-04T18:37:21Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > It’s an important position: the actual title is Chief Justice of the United States, emphasizing the status of the Judiciary Branch as a co-equal branch of the government. > > If a President is impreached, the CJ presides over the Senate trial (as Justice Rehnquist did with President Clinton). If the CJ is in the majority in a decision, he can write the opinion himself, or designate an associate justice to write it; some of the great SCOTUS written opinions have influenced constitutional thinking for decades. He’s head of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., and has several other duties. (Including being Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution.) The Court looks to the Chief Justice to be a good organizer. > > Justice Rehnquist was considered an excellent Chief Justice even by people (like me) who disagreed with most of his decisions on actual cases. (Though actually, like many of us, earlier this year I was suprised to find myself on the same side as Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas in regards the eminent domain case.) Presiding over impeachment trials of the president happens so rarely that I neglect it. Writing opinions is great and all and he does have a wee bit more power than the others in that regard. Still, other justices in the majority can and do write concurring opinions. For truly landmark cases, I would presume that the CJ would write the opinion with much consultation of the AJs. Sure, it’s an honor, but still only controls 1/9 of the Court. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/37 "2005-09-04T18:47:43Z")
> [@AFAIKnow](#): > > You post count belies that apparently inexperienced description of the capabilities of the regular dopers here. Oh and your post counts that you would know how this board is going to react. Rehnquist is dead! Those bad ol liberals are going to be mean to us poor little victims. NeoCons, get off the cross, we need the wood. Rehnquist has served as Supreme Court Justice and as Head of the Supreme Court honorably. I may not have always agreeed with him but he was very intelligent, and dedicated. I hope I can say the same about his replacement. ---
**Author:** ![DarkPrince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DarkPrince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkPrince)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/38 "2005-09-04T21:37:08Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > other presidents have been surprised by their **pics**. [President Taft]Good lord! Is my butt really _that_ big?![/President Taft] ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/39 "2005-09-04T21:53:32Z")
> [@DarkPrince](#): > > [President Taft]Good lord! Is my butt really _that_ big?![/President Taft] _snort_ ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982/40 "2005-09-04T21:56:21Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > In anticipation of Bush’s as-of-now-unknown nominee, the libs would do well to dust off such phrases as “turn back the clock on civil rights.” Is it just me, or does this well-water tasty…tangy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehnquist-is-dead-let-the-scretching-begin/319982.md?page=3)