141-554: Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005, having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. Considered
282-466: A Bachelor of Laws . Rehnquist was in the same class at Stanford Law as Sandra Day O'Connor , with whom he would later serve on the Supreme Court. They briefly dated during law school, and Rehnquist proposed marriage to her. O'Connor declined as she was by then dating her future husband (this was not publicly known until 2018). Rehnquist married Nan Cornell in 1953. After law school, Rehnquist served as
423-399: A constitutional right to abortion. Overall, she spent between 20 and 30 minutes discussing jurisdiction and procedure instead of constitutional issues. In his opening argument in defense of the abortion restrictions, attorney Jay Floyd made what was later described as the "worst joke in legal history". Appearing against two female lawyers, Floyd began, "Mr. Chief Justice and may it please
564-527: A law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert H. Jackson from 1952 to 1953. While clerking for Jackson, he wrote a memorandum arguing against federal court-ordered school desegregation while the Court was considering the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education , which was decided in 1954. Rehnquist's 1952 memo, "A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases", defended the separate-but-equal doctrine. In
705-505: A plaintiff ." They also wanted to increase the likelihood that the panel selection would help them win in court. They wanted to present their case to a three-judge panel which included a judge they thought would be sympathetic, which was a possibility only by filing a case in Dallas. If either of the two cases they filed in Dallas were assigned favorably, they intended to ask for the other one to be consolidated with it. At first, Weddington
846-465: A pregnancy trimester timetable to govern all abortion regulations in the United States. The Court also classified the right to abortion as "fundamental", which required courts to evaluate challenged abortion laws under the " strict scrutiny " standard, the most stringent level of judicial review in the United States. The Supreme Court's decision in Roe was among the most controversial in U.S. history. Roe
987-690: A Republican Party voter suppression operation in the early 1960s in Arizona to challenge minority voters. Rehnquist denied the charges, and Vincent Maggiore, then chairman of the Phoenix-area Democratic Party, said he had never heard any negative reports about Rehnquist's Election Day activities. "All of these things", Maggiore said, "would have come through me." When Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968 , Rehnquist returned to work in Washington. He served as Assistant Attorney General of
1128-425: A closely related case, Doe v. Bolton , until they had first decided certain other cases. One case they decided first was Younger v. Harris . The justices felt the appeals raised difficult questions on judicial jurisdiction . Another case was United States v. Vuitch , in which they considered the constitutionality of a District of Columbia statute which banned abortion except when the mother's life or health
1269-538: A federal law extending minimum wage and maximum hours provisions to state and local government employees. Rehnquist wrote, "this exercise of congressional authority does not comport with the federal system of government embodied in the Constitution." Rehnquist rejected a broad view of the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1952, while clerking for Jackson, Rehnquist wrote a memorandum concluding that " Plessy v. Ferguson
1410-535: A few months. He was then chosen for another training program, which began at Chanute Field , Illinois , and ended at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey . The program was designed to teach maintenance and repair of weather instruments. In the summer of 1945, Rehnquist went overseas as a weather observer in North Africa. He was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. After leaving the military in 1946, Rehnquist attended Stanford University with financial assistance from
1551-461: A justice's tenure ends only when the justice dies, retires, resigns, or is removed from office through the impeachment process. Since 1789, 15 presidents have made a total of 22 official nominations to the position. The salary of the chief justice is set by Congress; as of 2024, the annual salary is $ 312,200, which is slightly higher than that of associate justices, which is $ 298,500. The practice of appointing an individual to serve as Chief Justice
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#17328512097491692-660: A key role in rallying support for anti-abortion laws. According to James S. Witherspoon, a former briefing attorney for the Court of Appeals for the Third Supreme Judicial District of Texas, abortion was not legal before quickening in 27 out of all 37 states in 1868; by the end of 1883, 30 of the 37 states, six of the ten U.S. territories, and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi , where abortion had once been common, had codified laws that restricted abortion before quickening. More than 10 states allowed pre-quickening abortions, before
1833-594: A lawful purpose. This meant that if the mother died, the individual performing the abortion was guilty of murder. This aspect of common law regarded pre-quickening abortions as a type of inchoate offense . Negative liberty rights from common law do not apply in situations caused by consensual or voluntary behavior, which allowed for abortions of fetuses conceived in a consensual manner to be common law offenses. The majority opinion for Roe v. Wade authored in Justice Harry Blackmun 's name would later state that
1974-464: A life-saving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to pregnancy stage and without recognition of the other interests involved, is violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Three justices from the majority filed concurring opinions in the case. Justice Potter Stewart wrote a concurring opinion in which he said that even though the Constitution makes no mention of
2115-452: A local hardware store owner who also served as an officer and director of a small insurance company—was a local civic activist, as well as a translator and homemaker. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Sweden . Rehnquist graduated from Shorewood High School in 1942, during which time he changed his middle name to Hubbs. He attended Kenyon College , in Gambier, Ohio , for one quarter in
2256-619: A majority of States today are of relatively recent vintage". During the 1960s and early 1970s, opposition to abortion was concentrated among members of the political left and the Democratic Party, although feminists within predominately supported legalization. Most liberal Catholics and Mainline Protestants (both of which tended to vote for the Democratic Party) opposed liberalizing laws surrounding abortion while most other Protestants , including evangelicals , supported doing so as
2397-532: A matter of religious liberty , what they saw as a lack of biblical condemnation , and belief in non-intrusive government . By 1971, elective abortion on demand was effectively available in Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Some women traveled to jurisdictions where it was legal, although not all could afford to. In 1971, Shirley Wheeler was charged with manslaughter after Florida hospital staff reported her illegal abortion to
2538-527: A memo arguing that an investigation would not violate the separation of powers . Rehnquist did not handle the direct investigation, but was told by Mitchell to "assume the most damaging set of inferences about the case were true" and "determine what action the Justice Department could take." The worst inference Rehnquist could draw was that Fortas had somehow intervened in the prosecution of Wolfson, which, according to former White House Counsel John W. Dean,
2679-447: A memorandum to Jackson about Terry v. Adams , which involved the right of blacks to vote in Texas primaries where a non-binding white-only pre-election was being used to preselect the winner before the actual primary, Rehnquist wrote: The Constitution does not prevent the majority from banding together, nor does it attain success in the effort. It is about time the Court faced the fact that
2820-399: A piece of tissue. You just missed your period." This convinced McCorvey that abortion should be legal. She agreed to let them represent her under the impression that she would be able to eventually get a legal abortion. She smoked an illegal drug and drank wine so she would not have to think about her pregnancy. McCorvey gave birth to a daughter at Dallas Osteopathic Hospital on June 2, 1970;
2961-412: A pregnancy to abort. The Court concluded that an established exception to the mootness doctrine allows consideration of cases that are "capable of repetition, yet evading review". Blackmun noted that McCorvey might get pregnant again, and pregnancy would normally conclude more quickly than an appellate process : "If that termination makes a case moot, pregnancy litigation seldom will survive much beyond
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#17328512097493102-533: A rally where attendees listened to speakers from the Women's National Abortion Action Coalition (WONAAC). Her conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Florida . Sarah Weddington recruited Linda Coffee to help her with abortion litigation. Their first plaintiffs were a married couple; they joined after the woman heard Coffee give a speech. The intended suit would state abortions were medically necessary for
3243-451: A record of facts. The oral argument was scheduled by the full Court for December 13, 1971. Before the Court could hear the oral argument, Justices Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan II retired. Chief Justice Warren Burger asked Justice Potter Stewart and Justice Blackmun to determine whether Roe and Doe , among others, should be heard as scheduled. They recommended that the Court continue on as scheduled. As she began speaking for
3384-567: A restrictive view of criminals' and prisoners' rights and believed capital punishment to be constitutional. He supported the view that the Fourth Amendment permitted a warrantless search incident to a valid arrest. In Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (1977), Rehnquist dissented from a decision upholding the constitutionality of an act that gave a federal agency administrator certain authority over former President Nixon's presidential papers and tape recordings. He dissented solely on
3525-402: A state's interest in protecting prenatal life became so compelling that it could legally prohibit all abortions except where necessary to protect the mother's life or health. Having completed its analysis, the Court concluded that Texas's abortion statutes were unconstitutional and struck them down. A state criminal abortion statute of the current Texas type, that excepts from criminality only
3666-721: A staunch conservative, Rehnquist favored a conception of federalism that emphasized the Tenth Amendment 's reservation of powers to the states. Under this view of federalism, the Court , for the first time since the 1930s, struck down an act of Congress as exceeding its power under the Commerce Clause . Rehnquist grew up in Milwaukee , Wisconsin, and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946. Afterward, he studied political science at Stanford University and Harvard University , then attended Stanford Law School , where he
3807-502: A sworn statement made in 2003, McCorvey asked if she had what was needed to be part of Weddington and Coffee's lawsuit. She recounted being told, "Yes. You're white. You're young, pregnant, and you want an abortion." Both McCorvey's whiteness and her lower social class were crucial factors in the attorneys' choice to have her as their plaintiff. McCorvey recounted that the lawyers asked if she thought abortion should be legal. McCorvey said she did not know. Weddington told her, "It's just
3948-450: Is arbitrary, but perhaps any other selected point, such as quickening or viability, is equally arbitrary." In the same memo he suggested that the end of the first trimester seemed more likely to get support from other justices and allowed states the ability to adjust their statutes. He was of the impression that doctors were concerned that recovering abortion patients would take up too many hospital beds, and that abortion patients later than
4089-535: Is by tradition administered by the chief justice. The chief justice serves as a spokesperson for the federal government's judicial branch and acts as a chief administrative officer for the federal courts. The chief justice presides over the Judicial Conference and, in that capacity, appoints the director and deputy director of the Administrative Office . The chief justice is an ex officio member of
4230-419: Is found in a 2012 Boston College Law Review article that analyzes a 1955 letter to Frankfurter that criticized Jackson. In any event, while serving on the Supreme Court, Rehnquist made no effort to reverse or undermine Brown and often relied on it as precedent. In 1985, he said there was a "perfectly reasonable" argument against Brown and in favor of Plessy , even though he now saw Brown as correct. In
4371-429: Is grounded in tradition; while the Constitution mandates that there be a chief justice, it is silent on the subject of how one is chosen and by whom. There is no specific constitutional prohibition against using another method to select the chief justice from among those justices properly appointed and confirmed to the Supreme Court. Three incumbent associate justices have been nominated by the president and confirmed by
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4512-436: Is not a constitutional responsibility of the chief justice. The Constitution does not require that the presidential oath be administered by anyone in particular, simply that it be taken by the president. Law empowers any federal or state judge, as well as notaries public , to administer oaths and affirmations . The chief justice ordinarily administers the oath of office to newly appointed and confirmed associate justices, whereas
4653-400: Is slight". Lader also predicted that "If such a theoretical case was carried to a high court, perhaps even the U.S. Supreme Court , and the judges confirmed a broad interpretation of the meaning of a threat to life, undoubtedly a landmark in abortion decisions would be reached." The historical survey for Roe also referenced two articles by Cyril Means, who served as counsel to NARAL. In
4794-422: Is to win the case no matter how, however, I suppose I agree with Means's technique: begin with a scholarly attempt at historical research; if it doesn't work, fudge it as necessary; write a piece so long that others will read only your introduction and conclusion; then keep citing it until courts begin picking it up. This preserves the guise of impartial scholarship while advancing the proper ideological goals. After
4935-594: The Equal Protection Clause in cases like Trimble v. Gordon : Unfortunately, more than a century of decisions under this Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment have produced ... a syndrome wherein this Court seems to regard the Equal Protection Clause as a cat-o'-nine-tails to be kept in the judicial closet as a threat to legislatures which may, in the view of the judiciary, get out of hand and pass "arbitrary", "illogical", or "unreasonable" laws. Except in
5076-690: The G.I. Bill . He graduated in 1948 with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in political science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa . He did graduate study in government at Harvard University , where he received another Master of Arts in 1950. He then returned to Stanford to attend the Stanford Law School , where he was an editor on the Stanford Law Review . Rehnquist was strongly conservative from an early age and wrote that he "hated" liberal Justice Hugo Black in his diary at Stanford. He graduated in 1952 ranked first in his class with
5217-561: The Ninth Amendment . The court relied on Justice Arthur Goldberg 's 1965 concurrence in Griswold v. Connecticut . Yet the Court also declined to grant an injunction against enforcing the law, and ruled against the married couple on the basis that they lacked standing. Since Wade said he would continue to prosecute people for performing abortions, the lack of an injunction meant that McCorvey could not get an abortion. Roe v. Wade reached
5358-523: The Office of Legal Counsel from 1969 to 1971. In this role, he served as the chief lawyer to Attorney General John Mitchell . Nixon mistakenly called him "Renchburg" in several of the tapes of Oval Office conversations revealed during the Watergate investigations. Rehnquist played a role in the investigation of Justice Abe Fortas for accepting $ 20,000 from Louis Wolfson , a financier under investigation by
5499-413: The Office of Legal Counsel in 1969. In that capacity, he played a role in forcing Justice Abe Fortas to resign for accepting $ 20,000 from financier Louis Wolfson before Wolfson was convicted of selling unregistered shares. In 1971, Nixon nominated Rehnquist to succeed Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan II , and the U.S. Senate confirmed him that year. During his confirmation hearings, Rehnquist
5640-848: The Rehnquist Court , earning respect even from the justices who frequently opposed his opinions. As Chief Justice, Rehnquist presided over the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton . Rehnquist wrote the majority opinions in United States v. Lopez (1995) and United States v. Morrison (2000), holding in both cases that Congress had exceeded its power under the Commerce Clause. He dissented in Roe v. Wade (1973) and continued to argue that Roe had been incorrectly decided in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). In Bush v. Gore , he voted with
5781-662: The Republican and Democratic parties in the following decades. Anti-abortion politicians and activists sought for decades to restrict abortion or overrule the decision; polls into the 21st century showed that a plurality and a majority, especially into the late 2010s to early 2020s, opposed overruling Roe . Despite criticism of the decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe 's central holding in its 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey . Casey overruled Roe 's trimester framework and abandoned its "strict scrutiny" standard in favor of an " undue burden " test. In 2022,
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5922-501: The Securities and Exchange Commission . Although other justices had made similar arrangements, Nixon saw the Wolfson payment as a political opportunity to cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Nixon wanted the Justice Department to investigate Fortas but was unsure if this was legal, as there was no precedent for such an activity. Rehnquist sent Attorney General John N. Mitchell
6063-520: The Senate Judiciary Committee took place in early November 1971. In addition to answering questions about school desegregation and racial discrimination in voting, Rehnquist was asked about his views on the extent of presidential power, the Vietnam War , the anti-war movement and law enforcement surveillance methods . On November 23, 1971, the committee voted 12–4 to send the nomination to
6204-506: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit . Hughes knew Coffee, who clerked for her from 1968 to 1969. Additionally, the backgrounds of two other judges also gave Weddington and Coffee hope they would be successful. On June 17, 1970, the three judges unanimously ruled in McCorvey's favor and declared the Texas law unconstitutional, finding that it violated the right to privacy found in
6345-517: The judicial oath of office on January 7, 1972. There were two Supreme Court vacancies in the fall of 1971. The other was filled by Lewis F. Powell Jr. , who took office on the same day as Rehnquist to replace Hugo Black . On the Court, Rehnquist promptly established himself as Nixon's most conservative appointee, taking a narrow view of the Fourteenth Amendment and a broad view of state power in domestic policy. He almost always voted "with
6486-413: The lawsuit , Weddington did not speak again with McCorvey until four months after Roe was decided. After the first argument session, Burger assigned the task of writing the Court's opinions for both Roe and Doe to Blackmun. Douglas suggested to Blackmun that Burger assigned the opinions to him out of malicious intention, but Blackmun disagreed. He knew that Burger could not write it himself because
6627-686: The president of the United States to nominate, and, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate , appoint "Judges of the supreme Court", who serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and convicted . The existence of a chief justice is only explicit in Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 which states that the chief justice shall preside over the impeachment trial of the president; this has occurred three times, for Andrew Johnson , Bill Clinton , and for Donald Trump ’s first impeachment. The chief justice has significant influence in
6768-424: The selection of cases for review , presides when oral arguments are held, and leads the discussion of cases among the justices. Additionally, when the court renders an opinion, the chief justice, if in the majority, chooses who writes the court's opinion; however, when deciding a case, the chief justice's vote counts no more than that of any other justice . While nowhere mandated, the presidential oath of office
6909-466: The 1952 memo, saying, "The bald statement that Plessy was right and should be reaffirmed was not an accurate reflection of my own views at the time." But he acknowledged defending Plessy in arguments with fellow law clerks. Several commentators have concluded that the memo reflected Rehnquist's own views, not Jackson's. A biography of Jackson corroborates this, stating that Jackson instructed his clerks to express their views, not his. Further corroboration
7050-695: The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution and, by custom, is elected chancellor of the board. Since the Supreme Court was established in 1789, 17 people have served as Chief Justice, beginning with John Jay (1789–1795). The current chief justice is John Roberts (since 2005). Five of the 17 chief justices— John Rutledge , Edward Douglass White , Charles Evans Hughes , Harlan Fiske Stone , and William Rehnquist —served as associate justices prior to becoming chief justice. One chief Justice – William Howard Taft – had previously served as President of
7191-408: The Court created the trimester framework. During the first trimester, when it was believed that the procedure was safer than childbirth, the Court ruled that a state government could place no restrictions on women's ability to choose to abort pregnancies other than imposing minimal medical safeguards, such as requiring abortions to be performed by licensed physicians. From the second trimester on,
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#17328512097497332-406: The Court held the second argument session, Powell said he would agree with Blackmun's conclusion but pushed for Roe to be the lead of the two abortion cases being considered. Powell also suggested that the Court strike down the Texas law on privacy grounds. Byron White was unwilling to sign on to Blackmun's opinion, and Justice Rehnquist had already decided to dissent. During the drafting process,
7473-464: The Court introduced the concept of a constitutional " right to privacy " that it said had been intimated in earlier decisions such as Meyer v. Nebraska and Pierce v. Society of Sisters , which involved parental control over childrearing , and Griswold v. Connecticut , which involved the use of contraception. Then, "with virtually no further explanation of the privacy value", the Court ruled that regardless of exactly which provisions were involved,
7614-429: The Court ruled that evidence of increasing risks to the mother's health gave states a compelling interest that allowed them to enact medical regulations on abortion procedures so long as they were reasonable and "narrowly tailored" to protecting mothers' health. From the beginning of the third trimester on—the point at which a fetus became viable under the medical technology available in the early 1970s—the Court ruled that
7755-451: The Court, and he would have to face Catholic political groups which were against abortion. If Marshall wrote the opinions, the ruling would be perceived as being directed towards African Americans, and he would have to face the displeasure of African American political groups. Stewart would have trouble going far enough in legalizing abortion. At this point, Black and Harlan had been replaced by William Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell Jr. , but
7896-505: The Court. It's an old joke, but when a man argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they are going to have the last word ." His remark was met with cold silence; abortion rights lawyer Margie Pitts Hames thought that Chief Justice Burger "was going to come right off the bench at him. He glared him down." McCorvey did not attend either of the oral arguments along with her two lawyers. After talking McCorvey out of getting an illegal abortion and getting her name signed on an affidavit for
8037-508: The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy . Under 28 U.S.C. § 3 , when the chief justice is unable to discharge their functions, or when that office is vacant, the chief justice's duties are carried out by the most senior associate justice until the disability or vacancy ends. Currently, Clarence Thomas is the most senior associate justice. Since
8178-456: The Senate as Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White in 1910, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1941, and William Rehnquist in 1986. A fourth, Abe Fortas , was nominated to the position in 1968 but was not confirmed. As an associate justice does not have to resign their seat on the court in order to be nominated as Chief Justice, Fortas remained an associate justice. Similarly, when Associate Justice William Cushing
8319-540: The State of Texas. Weddington later stated that she "saw Roe as part of a much larger effort by many attorneys" whose collective interests she represented. James H. Hallford was a physician who was in the process of being prosecuted for performing two abortions. The Court allowed him to join the suit as a physician- intervenor on behalf of Jane Roe. One of the cases was assigned to a panel of judges which included Judge Sarah T. Hughes, who they thought would be sympathetic, and
8460-414: The Supreme Court in order to control the Court's agenda through opinion assignment. Indeed, Burger is said to have often changed votes to join the majority coalition, cast "phony votes" by voting against his preferred position, and declined to express a position at conference. The chief justice has traditionally administered the presidential oath of office to new U.S. presidents. This is merely custom, and
8601-446: The Supreme Court overruled Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on the grounds that the substantive right to abortion was not "deeply rooted in this Nation's history or tradition", nor considered a right when the Due Process Clause was ratified in 1868, and was unknown in U.S. law until Roe . Abortion was a fairly common practice in the history of the United States, and
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#17328512097498742-470: The Supreme Court was established in 1789, the following 17 men have served as Chief Justice: Roe v. Wade Roe v. Wade , 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected a right to have an abortion . The decision struck down many abortion laws , and it sparked an ongoing abortion debate in
8883-415: The Supreme Court when both sides appealed in 1970. It bypassed the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit because 28 USC § 1253 authorizes a direct appeal to the Supreme Court in cases concerning the granting or denial of a civil injunction decided by a three judge panel. The case continued under the name Roe v. Wade instead of being switched to Wade v. Roe . The justices delayed taking action on Roe and
9024-473: The Supreme Court, refers to all members of the court simply as "judges". The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the distinctive titles of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . In 1866, Salmon P. Chase assumed the title of Chief Justice of the United States, and Congress began using the new title in subsequent legislation. The first person whose Supreme Court commission contained
9165-639: The Supreme Court. In January 1973, the Supreme Court issued a 7–2 decision in McCorvey's favor holding that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides a fundamental "right to privacy", which protects a pregnant woman's right to an abortion. It also held that the right to abortion is not absolute and must be balanced against the government's interests in protecting women's health and prenatal life. It resolved these competing interests by announcing
9306-516: The U.S. Constitution and its guarantees of liberty covered a right to privacy that protected a pregnant woman's decision whether to abort a pregnancy. This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment 's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to
9447-454: The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the chief justice shall preside over the Senate trial of an impeached president of the United States. Three chief justices have presided over presidential impeachment trials : Salmon P. Chase ( 1868 trial of Andrew Johnson ), William Rehnquist ( 1999 trial of Bill Clinton ), and John Roberts ( 2020 trial of Donald Trump ; Roberts declined to preside over Trump's second trial in 2021 , which took place after
9588-520: The United States . The United States Constitution does not explicitly establish an office of the Chief Justice but presupposes its existence with a single reference in Article I, Section 3, Clause 6: "When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside." Nothing more is said in the Constitution regarding the office. Article III, Section 1 , which authorizes the establishment of
9729-578: The United States about whether, or to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, and what the role of moral and religious views in the political sphere should be. The decision also shaped debate concerning which methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication . The case was brought by Norma McCorvey —under the legal pseudonym " Jane Roe "—who, in 1969, became pregnant with her third child . McCorvey wanted an abortion but lived in Texas , where abortion
9870-501: The United States or of any state while holding their congressional seats, the chief justice and the other members of the federal judiciary are not barred from serving in other positions. John Jay served as a diplomat to negotiate the Jay Treaty , Robert H. Jackson was appointed by President Truman to be the U.S. prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials of leading Nazis, and Earl Warren chaired
10011-430: The age of the fetus and instead allowing states to regulate the procedure based on its safety for the mother. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued a 7–2 decision in favor of "Jane Roe" (Norma McCorvey) holding that women in the United States had a fundamental right to choose whether to have abortions without excessive government restriction and striking down Texas's abortion ban as unconstitutional . The decision
10152-402: The agenda for the weekly meetings where the justices review the petitions for certiorari , to decide whether to hear or deny each case. The Supreme Court agrees to hear less than one percent of the cases petitioned to it. While associate justices may append items to the weekly agenda, in practice this initial agenda-setting power of the chief justice has significant influence over the direction of
10293-549: The area of the law in which the Framers obviously meant it to apply—classifications based on race or on national origin". During the Burger Court's deliberations over Roe v. Wade , Rehnquist promoted his view that courts' jurisdiction does not apply to abortion . Rehnquist voted against the expansion of school desegregation plans and the establishment of legalized abortions, dissenting in Roe v. Wade . He expressed his views about
10434-400: The area of the law in which the Framers obviously meant it to apply—classifications based on race or on national origin, the first cousin of race—the Court's decisions can fairly be described as an endless tinkering with legislative judgments, a series of conclusions unsupported by any central guiding principle. Rehnquist consistently defended state-sanctioned prayer in public schools . He held
10575-454: The articles, Means misrepresented the common law tradition in ways that were helpful to the Roe side. Roy Lucas , the principal attorney assisting Weddington and Coffee, had previously received a memo from his colleague David M. Tundermann about Means's scholarship. The memo stated that the conclusions in Means's articles "sometimes strain credibility." It also stated: Where the important thing
10716-489: The baby, Shelley Lynn Thornton , was adopted by a couple in Texas. In 1970, Coffee and Weddington filed Roe v. Wade as a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of McCorvey under the legal pseudonym " Jane Roe ", and they also filed Does v. Wade on behalf of the married couple. The defendant for both cases was Dallas County District Attorney , Henry Wade , who represented
10857-588: The case was leaked to and published in The Washington Post before the decision was published. Blackmun continued to work on his opinions in both cases over the summer recess, even though there was no guarantee that he would be assigned to write them again. Over the recess, he spent a week researching the history of abortion at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he had worked in the 1950s. He talked daily on
10998-588: The cases were consolidated. In accordance with the Court's rules, two of the judges hearing the consolidated case were assigned on the basis of their judicial district, and the third judge on the panel was a circuit court judge chosen by the Chief Justice of the United States . The consolidated lawsuit was heard by a three-judge panel consisting of district court judges Sarah T. Hughes and William McLaughlin Taylor Jr. and appellate judge Irving Loeb Goldberg of
11139-562: The clerks began screaming as soon as they saw this that 'Now we can show those damn southerners, etc.' [...] I take a dim view of this pathological search for discrimination [...] and as a result I now have something of a mental block against the case. Nevertheless, Rehnquist recommended to Jackson that the Supreme Court should agree to hear Terry . After his Supreme Court clerkship, Rehnquist entered private practice in Phoenix , Arizona , where he worked from 1953 to 1969. He began his legal work in
11280-483: The conferences where cases are discussed and tentatively voted on by the justices. They normally speak first and so have influence in framing the discussion. Although the chief justice votes first—the court votes in order of seniority—they may strategically pass in order to ensure membership in the majority if desired. It is reported that: Chief Justice Warren Burger was renowned, and even vilified in some quarters, for voting strategically during conference discussions on
11421-466: The court's procedures and inner workings are governed by the rules of protocol based on the seniority of the justices. The chief justice always ranks first in the order of precedence —regardless of the length of the officeholder's service (even if shorter than that of one or more associate justices). This elevated status has enabled successive chief justices to define and refine both the court's culture and its judicial priorities. The chief justice sets
11562-553: The court's majority to end the Florida recount in the 2000 U.S. presidential election . Rehnquist was born William Donald Rehnquist on October 1, 1924, and grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood . His father, William Benjamin Rehnquist, was a sales manager at various times for printing equipment, paper, and medical supplies and devices; his mother, Margery ( née Peck)—the daughter of
11703-459: The court's national prestige. In doing so, Marshall would often write the opinions himself and actively discouraged dissenting opinions. Associate Justice William Johnson eventually persuaded Marshall and the rest of the court to adopt its present practice: one justice writes an opinion for the majority, and the rest are free to write their own separate opinions or not, whether concurring or dissenting. The chief justice's formal prerogative—when in
11844-515: The court. In 1930, former Associate Justice Charles Evans Hughes was confirmed as Chief Justice. Additionally, in December 1800, former Chief Justice John Jay was nominated and confirmed to the position a second time but ultimately declined it, opening the way for the appointment of John Marshall . Along with their general responsibilities as a member of the Supreme Court, the chief justice has several unique duties to fulfill. Article I, Section 3 of
11985-465: The court. Nonetheless, a chief justice's influence may be limited by circumstances and the associate justices' understanding of legal principles ; it is definitely limited by the fact that they have only a single vote of nine on the decision whether to grant or deny certiorari. Despite the chief justice's elevated stature, their vote carries the same legal weight as the vote of each associate justice. Additionally, they have no legal authority to overrule
12126-533: The criminalization of abortion did not have "roots in the English common-law tradition", and was thought to return to the more permissive state of pre-1820s abortion laws. One purpose for banning abortion was to preserve the life of the fetus, another was to protect the life of the mother, another was to create deterrence against future abortions, and another was to avoid injuring the mother's ability to have children. Judges did not always distinguish between which purpose
12267-628: The decision appeared on newsstands a few hours before it was published by the court. Burger demanded a meeting with Time 's editors and punishment for the leaker. Powell refused Hammond's resignation, on the grounds that "Hammond had been double-crossed" by the reporter. Justice Harry Blackmun authored the opinion of the Court—the "majority opinion"—and was joined by six other justices: Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Potter Stewart , William J. Brennan Jr. , William O. Douglas , Thurgood Marshall , and Lewis F. Powell Jr. After reciting
12408-542: The early 1960s on the grounds of freedom of association . Rehnquist quickly established himself as the Burger Court 's most conservative member. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Rehnquist to succeed retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger , and the Senate confirmed him. Rehnquist served as Chief Justice for nearly 19 years, making him the fifth-longest-serving chief justice and the eighth-longest-serving justice overall. He became an intellectual and social leader of
12549-502: The end of Trump's presidency. Senate president pro-tempore Patrick Leahy presided). All three presidents were acquitted in the Senate. Although the Constitution is silent on the matter, the chief justice would, under Senate rules adopted in 1999 prior to the Clinton trial, preside over the trial of an impeached vice president. This rule was established to preclude the possibility of a vice president presiding over their own trial. Many of
12690-433: The factors that govern the abortion decision. ... We, therefore, conclude that the right of personal privacy includes the abortion decision, but that this right is not unqualified and must be considered against important state interests in regulation. Texas's lawyers had argued that limiting abortion to situations where the mother's life was in danger was justified because life began at the moment of conception , and therefore
12831-472: The facts of the case, the Court's opinion first addressed several legal questions involving procedure and justiciability . These included mootness , a legal doctrine that prevents American federal courts from hearing cases that have ceased to be "live" controversies because of intervening events. Under a normal application of the doctrine, McCorvey's appeal would have been considered moot because she had already given birth to her child and therefore no longer had
12972-560: The fall of 1942 before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Forces , the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force . He served from 1943 to 1946, mostly in assignments in the United States. He was put into a pre- meteorology program and assigned to Denison University until February 1944, when the program was shut down. He served three months at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City , three months in Carlsbad, New Mexico , and then went to Hondo, Texas , for
13113-715: The firm of Denison Kitchel , subsequently serving as the national manager of Barry M. Goldwater 's 1964 presidential campaign. Prominent clients included Jim Hensley , John McCain 's future father-in-law. During these years, Rehnquist was active in the Republican Party and served as a legal advisor under Kitchel to Goldwater's campaign. He collaborated with Harry Jaffa on Goldwater's speeches. During both his 1971 hearing for associate justice and his 1986 hearing for chief justice, several people came forward to allege that Rehnquist had participated in Operation Eagle Eye ,
13254-455: The first argument had already occurred before they became Supreme Court justices. Justice Blackmun worked on a preliminary opinion for Roe which argued that Texas's law was unconstitutionally vague. This approach accommodated the claims of some doctors who were concerned that prosecutors might disagree with them over what constituted "life". Blackmun thought this approach would be a good way to avoid controversy which would come with saying there
13395-417: The first trimester were more likely to require hospital beds than those whose fetuses were aborted earlier. Contrary to the justices who preferred viability, Douglas preferred the first-trimester line. Stewart said the lines were "legislative" and wanted more flexibility and consideration paid to state legislatures, though he joined Blackmun's decision. William Brennan proposed abandoning frameworks based on
13536-426: The full Senate with a favorable recommendation. On December 10, 1971, the Senate first voted 52–42 against a cloture motion that would have allowed the Senate to end debate on Rehnquist's nomination and vote on whether to confirm him. The Senate then voted 22–70 to reject a motion to postpone consideration of his confirmation until July 18, 1972. Later that day, the Senate voted 68–26 to confirm Rehnquist, and he took
13677-470: The ground that the law was "a clear violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers". Chief justice of the United States The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary . Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants plenary power to
13818-405: The justices discussed the trimester framework at great length. Powell had suggested that the point where the state could intervene be placed at viability, which Thurgood Marshall supported as well. In an internal memo to the other justices before the majority decision was published, Justice Blackmun wrote: "You will observe that I have concluded that the end of the first trimester is critical. This
13959-413: The limitation of family size from Griswold v. Connecticut also applied here, although he acknowledged that "on the other side is the belief of many that the fetus, once formed, is a member of the human family and that mere personal inconvenience cannot justify the fetus' destruction." He also challenged the majority opinion with a series of hypothetical questions asking whether "health" might also include
14100-409: The majority—himself, Brennan, Stewart, and Marshall. Blackmun at one point thought all seven justices wanted to vote in the majority. In May 1972, Blackmun proposed that the case be reargued. Justice Douglas threatened to write a dissent from the reargument order because he and the other liberal justices were suspicious that Rehnquist and Powell would vote to uphold the Texas abortion statutes . He
14241-414: The majority—to assign which justice will write the court's opinion is perhaps their most influential power, as this enables them to influence the historical record. They may assign this task to the individual justice best able to hold together a fragile coalition, to an ideologically amenable colleague, or to themselves. Opinion authors can have a large influence on the content of an opinion; two justices in
14382-441: The memo, Rehnquist wrote: To the argument that a majority may not deprive a minority of its constitutional right, the answer must be made that while this is sound in theory, in the long run it is the majority who will determine what the constitutional rights of the minority are [...] I realize that it is an unpopular and unhumanitarian position, for which I have been excoriated by "liberal" colleagues, but I think Plessy v. Ferguson
14523-495: The modified title was Melville Fuller in 1888. The associate justice title was not altered in 1866 and remains as originally created. The chief justice, like all federal judges , is nominated by the president and confirmed to office by the U.S. Senate . Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution specifies that they "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior." This language has been interpreted to mean that judicial appointments are effectively for life and that once in office,
14664-490: The oral argument, Sarah Weddington was unaware that the Court had decided to hear the case to decide which courts had jurisdiction to hear it rather than as an attempt to overturn abortion laws in a broad ruling. She began by bringing up constitutional reasons why the Court should overturn Texas's abortion law, but Justice Stewart asked questions directed towards the jurisdiction question instead. Weddington replied that she saw no problem with jurisdiction and continued to talk about
14805-478: The people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether to terminate her pregnancy. The Court reasoned that outlawing abortions would infringe a pregnant woman's right to privacy for several reasons: having unwanted children "may force upon the woman a distressful life and future"; it may bring imminent psychological harm; caring for the child may tax the mother's physical and mental health; and because there may be "distress, for all concerned, associated with
14946-534: The phone with George Frampton , his 28-year-old law clerk who stayed behind in Washington, D.C. Frampton researched the history of abortion using a book authored by Lawrence Lader, the founding chairman of what is now called NARAL Pro-Choice America . Blackmun's papers made available since his death contain at least seven citations for Lader's 1966 book, Abortion . Chapter 16 of his book, "A Blueprint for Changing U.S. Abortion Laws" predicted that if abortion were to be legalized, "the possibility of community opposition
15087-465: The police. Wheeler was one of a few women who were prosecuted by their states for abortion. She received a sentence of two years probation , and as an option under her probation, chose to move back into her parents' house in North Carolina. The Playboy Foundation donated $ 3,500 to her defense fund and Playboy denounced her prosecution. The Boston Women's Abortion Coalition raised money and held
15228-458: The prosecution in criminal cases, with business in antitrust cases, with employers in labor cases, and with the government in speech cases." Rehnquist was often a lone dissenter in cases early on, but his views later often became the Court's majority view. For years, Rehnquist was determined to keep cases involving individual rights in state courts out of federal reach. In National League of Cities v. Usery (1977), his majority opinion invalidated
15369-403: The quickening distinction was eliminated, and every state had anti-abortion laws by 1900. In the United States, before specific statutes were made against it, abortion was sometimes considered a common law offense , such as by William Blackstone and James Wilson . In all states throughout the 19th and early 20th century, pre-quickening abortions were always considered to be actions without
15510-400: The right to choose to have an abortion without interference, he thought the Court's decision was a permissible interpretation of the doctrine of substantive due process , which says that the Due Process Clause 's protection of liberty extends beyond simple procedures and protects certain fundamental rights. Justice William O. Douglas's concurring opinion described his view that although
15651-436: The same majority, given the opportunity, might write very different majority opinions. A chief justice who knows the associate justices well can therefore do much—by the simple act of selecting the justice who writes the opinion of the court—to affect the general character or tone of an opinion, which in turn can affect the interpretation of that opinion in cases before lower courts in the years to come. The chief justice chairs
15792-597: The seniormost associate justice will normally swear in a new chief justice. If the chief justice is ill or incapacitated, the oath is usually administered by the seniormost member of the Supreme Court. Eight times, someone other than the chief justice of the United States administered the oath of office to the president. Since the tenure of William Howard Taft , the office of chief justice has moved beyond just first among equals . The chief justice also: Unlike Senators and Representatives, who are constitutionally prohibited from holding any other "office of trust or profit" of
15933-403: The state's governmental interest in protecting prenatal life applied to all pregnancies regardless of their stage . The Court said that there was no indication that the Constitution's uses of the word " person " were meant to include fetuses, and it rejected Texas's argument that a fetus should be considered a "person" with a legal and constitutional right to life . The Court observed that there
16074-470: The stigma of having an illegitimate child, anxiety from the pregnancy being unwanted, the physical work of raising a child, the financial drain from the added expense of another child, and far off health risks that may never actually materialize in a similar fashion to how risks were warded off with prophylactic appendectomy. Douglas' dissent made a similar legal argument to the one used two years later in Roe v. Wade . The following day after their decision
16215-414: The subject of abortion was too controversial, and his opinions might get rejected by the majority. He also understood why the other justices could not be assigned to write the opinions: Douglas was too liberal for the public to accept his word. Likewise, he might split the Court's vote by writing something radical. In addition, the quality of his opinions had suffered recently. Brennan was the only Catholic on
16356-467: The trial stage, and appellate review will be effectively denied." After dealing with mootness and standing , the Court proceeded to the main issue of the case: the constitutionality of Texas's abortion law. The Court first surveyed abortion's status throughout the history of Roman law and the English and early American common law. It also reviewed the developments of medical procedures and technology used in abortions. Following its historical surveys,
16497-726: The unwanted child". But at the same time, the Court rejected the notion that this right to privacy was absolute. It held instead that a woman's right to have an abortion must be balanced against other government interests , such as protecting maternal health and protecting the life of the fetus. The Court held that these government interests were sufficiently compelling to permit states to impose some limits on pregnant women's right to choose to have an abortion. A State may properly assert important interests in safeguarding health, maintaining medical standards, and in protecting potential life. At some point in pregnancy, these respective interests become sufficiently compelling to sustain regulation of
16638-431: The use of poisons in abortion. After the 1840s, there was an upsurge in abortions. In the 19th century, the medical profession was generally opposed to abortion, which Mohr argues arose due to competition between men with medical degrees and women without one. The practice of abortion was one of the first medical specialties, and was practiced by unlicensed people; well-off people had abortions and paid well. The press played
16779-426: The verdicts or interpretations of the other eight judges or tamper with them. The task of assigning who shall write the opinion for the majority falls to the most senior justice in the majority. Thus, when the chief justice is in the majority, they always assign the opinion. Early in his tenure, Chief Justice John Marshall insisted upon holdings which the justices could unanimously back as a means to establish and build
16920-442: The white people of the south do not like the colored people. The Constitution restrains them from effecting this dislike through state action, but it most assuredly did not appoint the Court as a sociological watchdog to rear up every time private discrimination raises its admittedly ugly head. In another memorandum to Jackson about the same case, Rehnquist wrote: several of the [Yale law professor Fred] Rodell school of thought among
17061-408: The woman. The woman had a neurochemical disorder and it was considered medically necessary that she not give birth or raise children, yet they did not want to abstain from sex, and contraception might fail. The attorneys were concerned about standing since the woman was not pregnant. Weddington later wrote that they "needed to find a pregnant Texas woman who wanted an abortion and would be willing to be
17202-514: Was Deep Throat , this speculation ended. On October 21, 1971, President Nixon nominated Rehnquist as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, to succeed John Marshall Harlan II . Henry Kissinger initially proposed Rehnquist for the position to presidential advisor H.R. Haldeman and asked, "Rehnquist is pretty far right, isn't he?" Haldeman responded, "Oh, Christ! He's way to the right of Buchanan", referring to then-presidential advisor Patrick Buchanan . Rehnquist's confirmation hearings before
17343-445: Was "a smear of a great man, for whom I served as secretary for many years. Justice Jackson did not ask law clerks to express his views. He expressed his own and they expressed theirs. That is what happened in this instance." But Justices Douglas 's and Frankfurter 's papers indicate that Jackson voted for Brown in 1954 only after changing his mind. At his 1986 hearing for chief justice, Rehnquist tried to further distance himself from
17484-662: Was a fundamental right to abortion. Brennan and Douglas disagreed with Blackmun and wrote to him that instead he needed to focus on privacy. After communicating with the other justices, Blackmun felt that his opinion did not adequately reflect his liberal colleagues' views. In March 1972, the court issued a ruling in Eisenstadt v. Baird , a landmark case which applied the earlier marital privacy right now also to unmarried individuals. Douglas wrote to Blackmun in May 1972 that he thought there were four judges who were definitely willing to rule in
17625-441: Was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and graduated first in his class. Rehnquist clerked for Justice Robert H. Jackson during the Supreme Court's 1952–1953 term, then entered private practice in Phoenix, Arizona . Rehnquist served as a legal adviser for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in the 1964 U.S. presidential election , and President Richard Nixon appointed him U.S. Assistant Attorney General of
17766-420: Was announced, the court voted to hear both Roe and Doe . According to Blackmun, Stewart felt the cases were a straightforward application of Younger v. Harris , and enough justices agreed to hear the cases to review whether they would be suitable for federal as opposed to only state courts. This sort of review was not about the constitutionality of abortion and would not have required evidence, witnesses, or
17907-413: Was coaxed out of the action by his colleagues, and instead his dissent was merely mentioned in the reargument order without further statement or opinion. The case was reargued on October 11, 1972. Weddington continued to represent the pseudonymous Jane Roe, and Texas Assistant Attorney General Robert C. Flowers replaced Jay Floyd for Texas. A June 1972 memo written by Douglas to his colleagues discussing
18048-422: Was criticized by some in the legal community, including some who thought that Roe reached the correct result but went about it the wrong way, and some called the decision a form of judicial activism . Others argued that Roe did not go far enough, as it was placed within the framework of civil rights rather than the broader human rights . The decision also radically reconfigured the voting coalitions of
18189-506: Was criticized for allegedly opposing the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and allegedly taking part in voter suppression efforts targeting minorities as a lawyer in the early 1960s. Historians debate whether he committed perjury during the hearings by denying his suppression efforts despite at least ten witnesses to the acts, but it is known that at the very least he had defended segregation by private businesses in
18330-409: Was endangered. The Court upheld the statute on the grounds that the word "health" was not unconstitutionally vague and placed the burden of proof concerning dangers to the life or health of the mother on the prosecutor instead of on the person who had performed the abortion. Justice William O. Douglas wrote a lengthy dissenting opinion to this case. He argued that the right to marital privacy and
18471-448: Was illegal except when necessary to save the mother's life. Her lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee , filed a lawsuit on her behalf in U.S. federal court against her local district attorney , Henry Wade , alleging that Texas's abortion laws were unconstitutional. A special three-judge court of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas heard the case and ruled in her favor. The parties appealed this ruling to
18612-406: Was issued together with a decision in a companion case , Doe v. Bolton , which involved a similar challenge to Georgia 's abortion laws. Larry Hammond, a law clerk for Powell, gave a Time reporter a copy of the decision " on background ", expecting that it would be issued by the court before the next issue of Time was published; however, due to a delay in the decision's release, the text of
18753-428: Was more important. Rather than arresting the women having the abortions, legal officials were more likely to interrogate them to obtain evidence against the individual doing the abortions. This law enforcement strategy was a response to juries which refused to convict women prosecuted for abortion in the 19th century. In 1973, Justice Blackmun's opinion stated that "the restrictive criminal abortion laws in effect in
18894-457: Was nominated and confirmed as Chief Justice in January 1796 but declined the office, he too remained on the court. Two former associate justices subsequently returned to service on the court as Chief Justice. John Rutledge was the first. President Washington gave him a recess appointment in 1795. However, his subsequent nomination to the office was not confirmed by the Senate, and he left office and
19035-419: Was not always a public controversy. At a time when society was more concerned with the serious consequences of women becoming pregnant out of wedlock, family affairs were handled out of public view. The criminality of abortion at common law is a matter of debate by historians and legal scholars. In 1821, Connecticut passed the first state statute legislating abortion in the United States ; it forbade
19176-531: Was not to be applied to abortion rights or prisoner's rights. He believed the Court "had no business reflecting society's changing and expanding values" and that this was Congress's domain. Rehnquist tried to weave his view of the Amendment into his opinion for Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer , but the other justices rejected it. He later extended what he said he saw as the Amendment's scope, writing in Trimble v. Gordon , "except in
19317-400: Was right and should be re-affirmed. If the Fourteenth Amendment did not enact Spencer's Social Statics , it just as surely did not enact Myrddahl's American Dilemma" ( An American Dilemma ), by which he meant that the Court should not "read its own sociological views into the Constitution." Rehnquist believed the Fourteenth Amendment was meant only as a solution to the problems of slavery, and
19458-504: Was right and should be reaffirmed. In both his 1971 United States Senate confirmation hearing for Associate Justice and his 1986 hearing for Chief Justice , Rehnquist testified that the memorandum reflected Jackson's views rather than his own. Rehnquist said, "I believe that the memorandum was prepared by me as a statement of Justice Jackson's tentative views for his own use." Jackson's longtime secretary and confidante Elsie Douglas said during Rehnquist's 1986 hearings that his allegation
19599-514: Was still great disagreement over when an unborn fetus becomes a living being. We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, in this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer. To balance women's rights to privacy and state governments' interests in protecting mothers' health and prenatal life,
19740-416: Was unsuccessful in finding a suitable pregnant woman. In June 1969, 21-year-old Norma McCorvey discovered she was pregnant with her third child. Ordinarily, lawyers are not allowed to directly solicit clients without any prior relationship, but McCorvey's situation qualified for an exception in the no solicitation rule which allows lawyers to solicit new clients for public interest cases. According to
19881-504: Was untrue. Based on this false accusation, Rehnquist argued that the Justice Department could investigate Fortas. After being investigated by Mitchell, who threatened to also investigate his wife, Fortas resigned. Because he was well-placed in the Justice Department , many suspected Rehnquist could have been the source known as Deep Throat during the Watergate scandal . Once Bob Woodward revealed on May 31, 2005, that W. Mark Felt
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