William+Rehnquist+becomes+Chief+Justice+of+the+US+Supreme+Court

 = William H. Rehnquist Supreme Court Justice (1972-1986) =

Overview
 Years in Office: January 7, 1972 – September 26, 1986

William H. Rehnquist was a lawyer, jurist , and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. Considered to be a conservative, Rehnquist favored a federalism under which the states meaningfully exercised governmental power. Under this view of federalism, the Supreme Court of the United States, for the first time since the 1930s, struck down an Act of Congress as exceeding federal power under the Commerce Clause. Rehnquist presided as Chief Justice for nearly 19 years, making him the fourth-longest-serving Chief Justice after John Marshall, Roger Taney , and Melville Fuller , and the longest-serving Chief Justice who had previously served as an Associate Justice. The last 11 years of Rehnquist's term as Chief Justice (1994–2005) marked the second-longest member to do so on the roster of the Supreme Court. 

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Central Issue
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rehnquist has been recognized because of the most popular cases in court including <span class="wiki_link_ext">Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), these trials were a huge part of the United States Government and had much impact on Rehnquist’s career. He later moved on to discuss other cases such as <span class="wiki_link_ext">Roe v. Wade (1973) and joining the majority in <span class="wiki_link_ext">Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). He also was opposed to affirmative action. He was very much recognized by the population he was more a celebrity then ever.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conclusion/ Historical Significance
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of Rehnquist’s goals was to serve justice in his country and for a man of his age he served our nation very well. After his major cases Rehnquist decided to slow his career down are look at his writing career. Chief Justice Rehnquist is a popular historian of the Court, author of three books on the history of the Court. //The Supreme Court: How It Is, How It Was// (1987), //Grand Inquests// (1992), and //All the Laws But One: Civil Liberties in Wartime// (paperback 2000) are informative, accessible books about the Court and the American legal system. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">

References (2009.10.1.2B)
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