The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution by Tinsley E. Yarbrough Price: $27.95 Home Search Site About MultiEducator History Shopping For Educators American History World History Election Central NationbyNation Primary Source Documents 20th Century Almanac Aviation History Navy History Railroad History America's Wars Revolutionary War War of 1812 Mexican American Civil War Spanish American World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Desert Storm Enduring Freedom Iraqi Freedom Biographies Presidents First Ladies 20th Century 500 Amistadt Civics History of Israel Other Links About Historycentral Advertise Contact US

William Rehnquist 1924-2005 Chief Justice of Supreme Court Jurist William H. Rehnquist was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 1, 1924. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps as a weather observer. He returned to civilian life after the war and attended Stanford University, graduating with both a B.A. and an M.A. in 1948. He received a second M.A. in 1950. Rehnquist returned to Stanford to earn a law degree in 1952. After graduation, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson for a year. Rehnquist then settled in Phoenix, Arizona where he practiced law for 16 years until being appointed Assistant Attorney General by President Nixon in 1969. Nixon nominated him as Associate Justice in 1971 and in 1986, he was nominated by President Reagan to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Rehnquist presided over a steady rightward turn of the Court. In his last year of life he fought cancer and died while still being Chief Justice