New Look at an Old Memo Casts More Doubt on Rehnquist

[ellisonz]

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: March 19, 2012

WASHINGTON — In 1952, a young Supreme Court clerk wrote a memorandum that would come to haunt him.

The court was considering Brown v. Board of Education, the great school desegregation case. The question for the justices was whether to overrule Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 decision that said “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional.

The memo, prepared for Justice Robert H. Jackson, was written in the first person and bore the clerk’s initials — “WHR,” for William H. Rehnquist.

“I realize it is an unpopular and unhumanitarian position, for which I have been excoriated by ‘liberal’ colleagues,” Mr. Rehnquist wrote, “but I think Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be reaffirmed.”

NY Times Story

If true, this really taints whatever positive legacy Rehnquist may have had. He believed and segregation and lied about his advocacy thereof. Also, the theft of Justice Frankfurters papers from the Library of Congress smells like ratfucker cover-up.

[MADem]

1. That pompous little twit with the invented stripes on his stupidass impeachment robe was an

unrepentant racist.

He owned a home with a restrictive covenant prohibiting the purchase by, or sale to, Jews.

No, I am not kidding.

He is an umitigated ass. A complete jerk. Disgrace to our justice system. A symbol of how fucked up the Supreme Court has been for some time.

[ellisonz]

2. I guess I'll never live in that house.

[MADem]

4. I think equal housing laws rendered that covenant moot--but still, it's an ugly legacy.

Who'd want to live in a house tainted by hate?

[bemildred]

3. +1. nt