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U.S. Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies

The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist died Saturday night of the thyroid cancer he had battled for nearly a year, opening a second Supreme Court vacancy just days before Senate confirmation hearings were to begin to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O`Connor.

His death on the eve of the confirmation hearings for Judge John G. Roberts Jr., set to begin Tuesday, raised the prospect that President Bush might transfer Judge Roberts`s nomination, making him a candidate for chief justice instead. Judge Roberts was a law clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist, who was then an associate justice, during the court`s 1980 term. The chief justice`s death also raised the question of whether Justice O`Connor, who announced July 1 that her retirement would be effective upon the confirmation of her successor, might agree to remain on the court in the interim. There is essentially no prospect that two Supreme Court vacancies can be filled before the new court term begins on Oct. 3.

The last time the Supreme Court had two vacancies at once was in 1971, when Justices Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan retired in the face of terminal illnesses. President Richard M. Nixon then named William H. Rehnquist, who was an assistant attorney general, to one of the vacancies and Lewis F. Powell Jr. to the other. Justice Rehnquist took his seat on January 7, 1972. President Ronald Reagan named him in 1986 to be the 16th chief justice of the United State