Contrary to most everyone's expectation, though not mine, Rehnquist announced this week he has no plans to retire.

I never really took the rumors too seriously. Here's the thing. The man has spent pretty much all his life around federal government in general and the supreme court in particular. His wife has been dead for 12 years. John Paul Stevens is sitting there at age 85 still deciding cases.

So you're Bill Rehnquist. Do you a) retire from the bench so you can go home and wait to die of thyroid cancer, in the meantime filling your days with matinee movies and NY Times crosswords or b) stay on the bench until you keel over.

Also, one of my summer jobs has been to read a lot of Rehnquist's supreme court opinions. This is a man who's been a very effective politician, but also extremely tenacious. He's not as fiery as Scalia but he can be a bigger stick in the mud. And he's written many solo dissents where the rest of the court went one way, and he went the other.

Long story short: if everyone says it's time to retire, this is a guy who's going to stay on just to show them he can. Maybe the Republicans should try reverse psychology and start talking about how they hope Rehnquist is on the bench until age 100.

17 Jul 05