Impeachment: A NewsHour Special -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist



	CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST

As the U.S. Senate moves forward with the trial of President Bill Clinton, the proceedings will take place under the watchful eye of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

November 11, 1998:
Chief Justice Rehnquist discusses his most recent book with David Gergen.

July 29, 1986:
Listen to two legal scholars debate William Rehnquist's qualifications to be Chief Justice - In RealAudio.

June 17, 1986:
Listen to some background on Justice Rehnquist and his nomination - In RealAudio.

June 29, 1998:
Four law professors debate the direction and rulings of the Rehnquist Court.

Browse the full coverage of legal issues.

Oyez Oyez Oyez, a multimedia look at the Supreme Court and its work (From Northwestern University)

The Supreme Court Historical Society.

William Hubbs Rehnquist was born on October 1, 1924 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in Shorewood, one of Milwaukee's suburbs, where he attended public elementary and high school. After graduating, he entered Kenyon College but left after a year to enter the Army Air Corps during World War II. He served as a weather observer in the U.S. and overseas from 1943 to 1946. After leaving the military he transferred to Stanford University where he received a BA in political science. He earned master's degrees from both Stanford and Harvard also in political science before attending Stanford law school. He graduated first in his law school class in 1952.

After receiving his JD, Rehnquist traveled to Washington to serve as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson during the 1952-53 session. During his tenure, he drafted a memo for Justice Jackson that stated racial segregation in education was "right and should be affirmed." The memo later became an issue during his Senate confirmation hearings in 1971, where he argued that he had drafted the document to express the views of the justice and not his own.

Following the Supreme Court clerkship, Justice Rehnquist returned West, settling into a private practice in Phoenix, Arizona. He stayed there from 1953-1969, working at several law firms. While in Phoenix, he was active in local politics and became friends with Richard Kleindeist, who later became Deputy Attorney General in the Nixon Administration. With Kleindeist's help, Rehnquist returned to Washington when Richard Nixon appointed him to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Affair in the Department of Justice.

Two years later, President Nixon nominated Rehnquist to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court, filling the seat vacated by an ailing John Harlan. He served as a justice on the bench until 1986 when President Ronald Reagan nominated him to replace retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger.

New York Times reporter Stephen Engelberg has described Rehnquist as "a conservative jurist whose polished opinions have won grudging respect even from those who oppose his views." Also, Chief Justice Rehnquist will have additional insight as the impeachment trial unfolds. In 1992, Rehnquist published a 304-page tome Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson.

Chief Justice Rehnquist is married and has three grown children.