Rehnquist back at work

updated 1:09 p.m. ET July 18, 2005

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William Rehnquist, sick with cancer but determined to remain at the helm of the Supreme Court, returned to work Friday after defiantly squelching retirement speculation with a pledge to stay as long as his health allows.

The 80-year-old chief justice, who is battling thyroid cancer, looked pale but confident as he left his house in a wheelchair for the trip to his office. He spent two nights in the hospital with a fever earlier in the week, and was discharged on Thursday.

“I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement,” the chief justice said in a statement first disclosed by The Associated Press late Thursday and later confirmed by the court.

Rehnquist signaled that he is effectively fighting cancer and his health is strong enough to allow him to preside over the high court for the foreseeable future.

Changing strategies
His presence in the massive marble court building underscored the changed political atmosphere across the street in the Capitol, where senators in both parties had virtually taken Rehnquist’s retirement for granted. Instead, lawmakers swiftly recalibrated their strategies for what now looms as the sole confirmation debate of the summer, to fill the vacancy created by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement.

President Bush has not said when he intends to name a replacement, but has said he wants O’Connor’s successor on the bench by the time the court convenes in October.

Bush has consulted widely with dozens of lawmakers of both parties in the run-up to making his pick. But Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky chided Democrats in remarks on the Senate floor Friday, saying they are not satisfied.

“They demand that the president give them the names of the people he is thinking about nominating. They want, in effect, to serve as co-presidents by co-nominating a replacement to the Supreme Court,” said McConnell, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican.

McConnell also said Democratic-aligned outside groups appeared to be in the early stages of an attempt to depict Bush’s eventual nominee as an extremist who would deny minorities, women, the disabled and others their rights. “All I’m asking for is a little bit of civility. Civility and compassion for the man or woman who is soon to be named to be the next justice,” he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he, too, hopes for a dignified confirmation debate — but said that was up to Bush.

“What happens regarding a Supreme Court nominee is dependent on the president. From all the indication I’ve gotten he doesn’t want a big battle here and nor do we,” said Reid, who attended a meeting at the White House with Bush earlier in the week and said afterward he wants the White House to let him know in advance the names of court candidates under consideration.

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