Rehnquist: Right For The Job

It's a short walk across the street from the Supreme Court to the Capitol, where Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is presiding over President Clinton's impeachment trial.

It's also a trip that has taken him from the relative anonymity of the television-free court to the homes of millions of Americans.

Rehnquist is only the second chief justice to preside over a presidential impeachment trial, but the first to conduct at least some of the proceedings on TV.

While the high-profile trial may mean he will no longer go virtually unnoticed on his daily strolls outside the Supreme Court building, many court watchers say he is a good fit for the role.

"He will run a very fair, efficient proceeding and he will not allow it to get out of control," said Washington lawyer Theodore Olson, who has often argued before the highest court.

Charles Cooper, a former law clerk to Rehnquist and a frequent advocate before the high court, predicted the chief justice would use his authority to keep an impeachment trial "focused on the facts that are relevant and keep the extraneous or purely political stuff to a minimum."

Rehnquist is keeping his thoughts about an impeachment trial to himself. But at the court, he is known for his calm, gentlemanly manner and ability to run a tight ship.

A Phoenix attorney in the 1950s and 1960s, he started a law practice and did appellate work. He also served as general counsel for the Arizona Republican Party.

The 74-year-old Rehnquist, nominated by President Nixon, joined the high court in 1972. He became the nation's 16th chief justice when promoted by President Reagan in 1986.

He is one of the court's most conservative members but is well-liked by colleagues of all ideologies.

Rehnquist seemingly hates to waste time. He keeps oral arguments to a strict one-hour limit and has shortened the justices' private conferences. When a major snowstorm shut down most of Washington in January 1996, the chief justice kept the Supreme Court open for business.

At the Supreme Court, the chief justice acts as presiding officer and has one of nine votes. At a Senate impeachment trial, Rehnquist would have no vote and a limited role as presiding officer. He would rule on questions involving evidence and other incidental matters, but a simple majority vote of senators could override his judgment.

Rehnquist already is something of an expert on impeachment. His 1992 book, Grand Inquests, detailed the 1868 Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, presided over by Chief Justice Salmon Chase, and the 1805 impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase.

Both were acquitted. Rehnquist said in each case, senators put aside partisan differences to reach verdicts that confirmed the independence of the judicial and executive branches.

The trials established that "impeachment would not be a referendum on the public official's performance in office; instead, it would be a judcial type of inquiry," Rehnquist wrote. "It was not any technical violation of the law that would suffice, but it was the sort of violation of the law that would in itself justify removal from office."

What would the Supreme Court do with Rehnquist occupied by an impeachment trial?

"I think our daily routine won't be affected by it, but the chief justice's certainly would if he has to preside," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told a group of high school students last week.

If the Senate convenes in the afternoons, as current rules require, the chief justice would be free to hear cases argued earlier in the day.

"So, presumably a little work could take place (at the Supreme Court) in the mornings even though there might be a (Senate) proceeding in the afternoon," O'Connor said.

Even if he could not hear arguments at the court, Rehnquist could read the transcripts and vote on cases.

And if he truly had no time to spare, the court has carried on with eight justices before. Justice Robert Jackson missed an entire term in 1945-46 when he served as prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, and confirmation battles kept the seat eventually taken by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy open for half of the 1987-88 term.

By Laurie Asseo