Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist has died at his home in Virginia.
Update: [Kevin adds] The full story is now online…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening of cancer, ending a remarkable 33-year tenure on the Supreme Court and creating a rare second vacancy on the nation’s highest court.
Rehnquist, 80, was surrounded by his three children when he died at his home in suburban Arlington.
“The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his duties on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days,” said court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.
Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1972. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.
[More]Of course the obligatory idiotic comment at DU is up, “Throw his f*ing corpse into that contaminated water outside the Superdome! And see how HIS family like seeing that on the TV news.” as well as the idiotic DailyKos member comment, “Holy f**k…they killed Renquist.“
Wow. Let the games begin. Too bad he didn’t retire with dignity.
I question the timing of his death.
OK. I admit that was a cheap, and possibly offensive, attempt at humor. And I feel a bit sorry for saying it.
I mean no disrespect to the man.
But still…..
Retire with dignity? Die with the boots on!
Since when is it undignified to die while still employed? Okay, maybe if you’re working at McDonald’s and you die because you fell into the fryer. But otherwise, why should Rehnquist have retired, as long as he wasn’t out of it mentally?
Good night, funny man
The stupidity has already begun with fervor. Check out what the dimwits at http://americablog.blogspot.com are screaming.
Andrea,
He was in extremely poor health and should have retired months ago. There is no way he could function up to par in his state. There is something unseemly about the “you’ll have to pry this gavel from my cold, dead hands” approach.
Anyway, I’m glad he served. Our country is better off because of Rehnquist.
this will get dirty. why? we are all too familiar.
God bless the man. God bless the process to replace him. but aren’t we all too familiar…
There’s nothing undignified about raging against the dying of the light.
Rehnquist may have had a conservative leaning, but I think he tried to be above it. Meanwhile he saw the future of the court degenerating into highly politicized activist bench. I’d rather he hang on as long as possible and delay the inevitable.
Oh my god! Jim, I haven’t laughed so hard since Sheehan said we’re waging a nuclear war in Iraq.
Oh my, My side hurts.
So, when O’Conner retired, the Dems said ‘She wasn’t a right-winger, so you Repubs better not replace her with a right-winger. We’ll only support a moderate candidate.’
So to be fair then, the Dems will support a conservative to replace Rehnquist, since he was conservative. Right?
Sure they will.
Wanted to add to the commentary…Thanks, GT
http://www.brokenmasterpieces.com/archives/001736.html