Who Will Be the Next Rehnquist?

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Outside law schools, the Rehnquist court will be remembered for its bitterly split 5-to-4 decision in 2000 in Bush v. Gore, which many Democrats saw as sneaky Republican prestidigitation to give George W. Bush the White House. It was one of the few decisions in which Rehnquist supported the use of federal power to restrict a state, one whose supreme court had ordered a manual recount of the ballots in the presidential race. But Rehnquist didn't win them all, and his first years on the court were often spent in lonely dissents. And over the years, he mellowed. In 2000, he angered conservatives by personally penning the opinion upholding Miranda v. Arizona, the decision requiring police to read those they take into custody their rights, a ruling he had earlier savaged. Rehnquist took his job very seriously, writing books and donning special judicial robes with raised gold stripes. But his greatest skill was unseen. In an increasingly fractious political era--mirrored in the court's many split decisions--he had the emotional temperament to build majorities and keep the court functioning. That is no small qualification for the person who replaces him.