William Rehnquist is so cool.
It’s so sad that he’s like to have to retire soon because of his ill-health. I hope y’all will pray for him, that (whether on the Court or off) God will give him healing and the strength he needs to get through this time.
I wanted to just do a tribute post to him right now, while he’s still on the Court.
Like I said, he’s so cool.
First, he’s an originalist (the correct legal school of hermeutics and the only one that honors the democratic process).
Second, he was one of the two votes against The EVIL Decision in 1973 (the other was ex-football player-turned-Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White).
Third, and most important, he’s a Gilbert & Sullivan fan!
In fact, he’s incorporated his fandom of G & S into Supreme Court tradition:
Rehnquist also created a unique robe for himself as Chief Justice in 1994. It has four golden bars on each sleeve. In the past, Chief Justices had not dressed differently than any of the Associate Justices. Rehnquist’s robe was modeled after a robe he had seen in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Iolanthe, first staged in London in 1882. The costume which inspired Chief Justice Rehnquist, an acknowledged Gilbert and Sullivan fan, is worn by the Lord Chancellor, a character called upon to settle a dispute among a colony of fairies [SOURCE].
Yes!
Iolanthe (eye-oh-lan-theee) is one of the best G & S light operas. It has, in the judgment of some, the most beautiful score of any of the duo’s works. The libretto is witty. The premise is absurd. The climax is moving. And the ending is so over-the-top that it must have made a bunch of British Lords’ ears turn red. Oh yeah, and there are loads of jokes strewn along the path, and it has one of the two most amazing songs Gilbert ever wrote the lyrics for (this one being a strung-together collection of common sayings that he makes all fit together and rhyme).
The story focuses on the case of a young Arcadian shepherd named Strephon who has an unusual problem: Having a human father and a fairy mother (Iolanthe), he’s half mortal and half fairy. He’s a fairy down to the waist, but his legs are mortal. He’s also in love with a beautiful (mortal) maiden named Phyllis, who happens to be a Ward of Chancery (i.e., an orphan under the care of the court).
Enter England’s Lord High Chancellor (who, in U.K. government is, among other things, the head of their judiciary). In Iolanthe, the Lord High Chancellor himself has an unusual problem:
And every one who’d marry a Ward
Must come to me for my accord,
And in my court I sit all day,
Giving agreeable girls away,With one for him–and one for he–
And one for you–and one for ye–
And one for thou–and one for thee–
But never, oh, never a one for me!Which is exasperating for
A highly susceptible Chancellor!
Knowing the character of Iolanthe’s Lord High Chancellor from my own Gilbert & Sullivan fanboy-ism, I get such a kick out of the idea of Chief Justice Rehnquist–America’s Lord High Chancellor–would break with Supreme Court tradition to model his own robe after the character from Iolanthe.
What a cool guy!
I hope the next chief justice keeps up the tradition.
