Another proud member of the irony-based community.
Be sure to emphasize to all the southerners that Rehnquist is a reactionary bastard, which I hope to Christ he is.-- Richard Nixon to John Mitchell, on the nomination of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court.
"Mysterious Jackson area lawyer's blog about history, literature, and whatever irks him." -- NMC
"Just a hypersensitive pantywaist probably of Gallic descent who still suffers nightmares over what Gaius Julius did to your people 2,000 years ago." -- Kingfish
And therefore, reader, I myself am the subject of my book; it is not reasonable that you should employ your leisure on a topic so frivolous and so vain.
-- Montaigne, Essays, "To the Reader.""I shall see myself, I shall read myself, I shall go into ecstacies, and I shall ask -- Is it possible that I have so much ésprit?"
-- Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols.... the torturer has become – like the pirate and slave trader before him – hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind.
-- Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, 630 F.2d 876, 890 (2d Cir. 1980)
Add that in to his reference to "that clown Renchburg" and you have an interesting collection of Nixon quotes about the man.
ReplyDeleteApparently the clown remark was because Rehnquist came to a White House meeting with wide lapels and an orange shirt.
Rehnquist's fashion sense was surely the most liberal thing about him.
ReplyDeleteHe was such an operator in the Nixon DOJ, that alone should've been a disqualification for the Supreme Court. I was pleasantly surprised to see Eric Posner, of all people, saying that R. was not a particularly distinguished jurist.
And yet Stevens makes clear what an improvement he was as chief when Burger shuffled off...
ReplyDeleteTrue dat. A low bar, but I've never heard Rehnquist's managerial talents impugned.
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