New York Times havde mandag en længere artikel om den nysafdøde, amerikanske højesteretspræsident William H. Rehnquist.

Der var et par ting i den, som jeg ikke vidste men fandt interessante.  F.eks. at Rehnquist i 1964 havde ført kampagne for Barry “Extremism in the defense of freedom is no vice” Goldwater, da denne som Republikanernes præsidentkandidat forgæves prøvede at slå Lyndon B. Johnson. Men også dette om Rehnquists ideologiske inspiration:

“Chief Justice Rehnquist often said that he was strongly influenced in his world view by a book he read as a young man, “The Road to Serfdom,” by Friedrich von Hayek, the Austrian-born, Nobel Prize-winning economist. A best-seller after its publication in 1944, the book warned of the dangers of collectivism and big government and predicted that socialism, the “road to serfdom” of the title, would eventually collapse.”

Der var også denne lille anekdote fra da Rehnquist i 1986 blev udnævnt til højesteretspræsident, inklusive en fin lille parafrase:

“While the new chief justice found the confirmation process extremely disagreeable, he kept his composure and even his wry sense of humor. At one point, a Republican Senator, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, commended him for his recent dissent in Wallace v. Jaffree, the case on silent prayer in the Alabama public schools. Senator Hatch observed that the Senate Judiciary Committee had voted for a constitutional amendment to allow such prayer. “What you have been labeled extreme for, is something a majority of this committee supports,” Senator Hatch said.
Justice Rehnquist smiled and shrugged. “We’re all extremists together,” he said.”