Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th chief justice of the United States, died last night at his home in Arlington. He was 80.

Rehnquist, who had been suffering from thyroid cancer since last October, had managed to lead the court through its last term, which ended in June. But he went through "a precipitous decline in his health in the last couple of days," Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

Rehnquist's death comes as the Senate is preparing for hearings on President Bush's nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice. Those hearings are set to begin on Tuesday. O'Connor, 75, announced her retirement on July 1, effective upon the confirmation of a successor.

When I first heard the news at about 3:00am this morning, I thought, "Well, the gloves will be off with Roberts now - the Dems will want to take him down to show how inept or corrupt the Bush appointees are (though, six years and hundreds of nominations for judicial appointments later, we're talking about practically every judge in the upper end of the system), and to derail the Rehnquist replacement. Of course, this may backfire as people realize that it's clearly bipartisan politics at work.

The Dems will be working themselves into a tizzy over Bush getting to appoint two new Justices, but that won't be the only fun and games we can expect:

President Bush must now name a replacement for Rehnquist, and the process of selecting and confirming a new justice will probably last past the first day of the court's new term, Oct. 3. That means that even if Roberts is swiftly confirmed, the court will be operating with only eight members for an indefinite period.

Tie votes on the court result in the automatic affirmance of the lower court's ruling in the court, but do not establish a legal precedent.

Cross-posted at Guide for Midwestern Culture. More on Rehnquist at TAM, Protein Wisdom, Tiger Hawk via Glenn Reynolds and LGF.