Chief Justice dies

Link.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who quietly advanced the conservative ideology of the Supreme Court under his leadership, died Saturday evening. He was 80.

The justice, diagnosed with thyroid cancer, had a tracheotomy and received chemotherapy and radiation as part of his treatment.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Rehnquist had "continued to perform his duties on the Court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days."

Earlier this summer, I opined as follows:

Rehnquist's answer to the retirement question: "I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits."

The reality is that his health does not permit him to continue now, at least in a capacity that the nation is entitled to expect from its top judicial officer. In fact, he recused himself in a substantial number of cases from the last term because of his health and a dramatic turnaround in that regard seems unlikely. It seems clear to me that Rehnquist is addicted to the power and prestige of the office, and he has decided to have his death certificate serve as his resignation notice.

If you look at the comments to that post, you will see that opinion was not popular. But I still think that it was somewhat selfish for Rehnquist to deny the country an opportunity to have a new Chief confirmed before the start of the upcoming court term in October. Now, assuming John Roberts is confirmed, the Court will have only eight members for several months, at a minimum. That is likely to mean that instead of 5-4 decisions, we are going to have a number of cases in which a 4-4 court either takes no action or puts the case over until the next term.

That aside, I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to Rehnquist. He was certainly more conservative than my ideal Supreme Court justice, but there is no disputing that he was a principled man and a dedicated public servant. He will also be remembered by history as a hugely important figure.