William H. Rehnquist  (William Hubbs Rehnquist, 1924.10.01-2005.09.03)  Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, lawyer.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.  U.S. Government photo.

Lived in Phoenix

After graduating first in his law school class at Stanford University in 1952 and then completing a clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court, William Rehinquist moved to Phoenix where he practiced law for more than a decade.  His conservative disposition became evident with his opposition to legislative initiatives like one which aimed at achieving racial integration of schools through bussing.

Rehnquist was active with the conservative Senator Barry Goldwater and Richard G. Kleindienst in the presidential campaigns of Goldwater in 1964 and Nixon in 1968.  When Richard M. Nixon won the presidency in 1968, he appointed Kleindienst as deputy attorney general who then selected Rehnquist as assistant attorney general.

Nixon was pleased with Rehnquist's conservative views and nominated him for a place on the Supreme Court in 1971 where he became the most conservative member of the court.  He was frequently the lone dissenter on the Warren Court.  He dissented against the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973) which overturned state laws against abortions, and again against the majority in School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado (1973) which upheld bussing as a means to bring about desegregation.  In other cases he opposed school desegregation, women's rights, health care for the poor, and civil-service jobs for aliens.

In 1981, he was joined on the bench by another Arizonan when President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor for the court.  In 1986, President Reagan nominated him as Chief Justice to take the place of retiring Chief Justice Burger.  In 1999 he presided over the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the U. S. Senate.