Rehnquist Died

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His court decided that public schools can be sometimes be used for Bible study classes, that Congress can force public libraries receiving federal money to use filters to block Internet smut, that random drug tests can be given to students in competitive after-school activities or teams. The court also limited the use of affirmative action in college admissions and laid out rules for suing over discrimination in the workplace.
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After being elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986, Rehnquist gained the power to shape the court. Under his leadership the court scaled back criminal defendants' constitutional rights, limited the power of Congress to interfere in states' business and blurred the separation between church and state.

And while it's true that like all justices, the chief justice gets only one vote on cases, his vote is, practically speaking, first among equals. That's because he assigns the writing of certain opinions, runs the justices' meetings and in ways tangible and intangible is able to shape the high court's rulings.

At his weekly closed-door meetings of the justices, Rehnquist offered his view of a case first, essentially framing the issues for his colleagues.

In cases where his vote is in the majority, the chief justice assigns the writing of the majority opinion. On issues important to him, Rehnquist could choose to write the opinion himself _ as he did with the June 2005 ruling that a 6-foot granite monument with the words "I AM the LORD thy God" on the grounds of the Texas Capitol was a permissible acknowledgment of religion's place in society.

"In every domain that he cares about, the court has moved to some degree in the direction he wanted," said Sunstein.

And though the court was considered liberal when he joined it, Rehnquist lived long enough to see it dominated by Republicans. Seven of the current nine justices were named by Republican presidents. The court still usually broke 5-4 along ideological lines, because two GOP choices _ John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter _ usually voted with Clinton appointees Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.