Quotes About Rehnquist

Bill Rehnquist makes Barry Goldwater look like a liberal.

If Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist wasn't addicted to the pain-killing drug his doctor prescribed, but instead it was just that the drug had 'established an interrelationship with the body, such that if the drug is removed precipitously, there is a reaction,' you needn't question that his decisions might have been influenced by his drug addiction.

The "wall of separation between church and State" is a metaphor based on bad history.

Ginsburg appreciated that Rehnquist assigned the most interesting cases on the basis not of ideology but of which justices had completed their previous assignments on time.

Rehnquist was just reflecting his shifting role, from outsider to the institutional embodiment of the Court.

There's a lot of the Midwest and the West in Justice Rehnquist's approach to constitutional law. And by that I mean a recognition that people know pretty well how to govern themselves, that government that is closest to the people is apt to be more responsive to their legitimate concerns and needs.

There's no question that Roberts will vote like William Rehnquist... If he swings, it will be from right to far right.

Justice Rehnquist was friendly and unpretentious. He wore scuffed Hush Puppy shoes. That was my first lesson. Clothes do not make the man. The Justice sported long sideburns and Buddy Holly glasses long after they were fashionable. And he wore loud ties that I am confident were never fashionable.

Utah v. Strieff was one of many cases during the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts—from 1986 to the present—that empowered and encouraged police to violate the Constitution.

Sam Alito replacing Justice O'Connor was a very significant change. He is much more conservative. And, as for John Roberts, he is much more in the direction of protecting the rights of very rich people to donate money to campaigns than Bill Rehnquist ever was.

The death of chief justice Rehnquist and the president's nomination of John Roberts raises the stakes for the court and the American people exponentially.