Freedom from Blog

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Sunday, September 04, 2005

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dead

The Chief passed away in the night.

What now? The hearings on the Roberts nomination were set to start next week. That's all changed now--not the schedule, but the issues to be addressed. Because the Rehnquist Court is over, as of now.

Update: This is a short post, because I can't think of anything particularly profound to say. Also: The Chief had a major impact on the Court, but in many ways I think that, in terms of doctrine, his impact has been largely negative. Take the issue of the death penalty. Now, I'm not opposed to the death penalty in principle. I don't think that it's unconstitutional, in principle. But the dead Chief's strident opposition to robust federal court review of state capital convictions should give one at least a little pause. Especially given what we've learned about wrongful convictions from Project Innocence in recent years.

But I try to follow the rule, do not speak ill of the dead, and its corollary, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

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