William Renquist-Lone Dissenter

The Supreme Court changed in 1986. A new Chief Justice took over. It wasn't part of the Mix Tape series, but the new Chief Justice changed happened at that time. 

William Renquist was born October 1, 1924 in Milwaukee and died September 3, 2005. He was the sixteenth Chief Justice starting on September 26, 1986.

Renquist served in the Air Force and spent time at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. (that interests me because of live near there.) He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon in 1971. Renquist was always a conservative and he was confirmed by the Senate 68-26. We tend to think of this as a time when liberal politics were the main philosophy. As a justice, he voted against desegregation and Roe vs Wade. He was nicknamed the Lone Dissenter on many big cases because of his staunch conservative stance. 

His background working in conservative circles would come back later when President Reagan named him for Chief Justice. As a clerk, he wrote a defense of Plessy vs. Ferguson. That case, from the prior century established separate but equal laws, later called Jim Crow. By the 1980s these laws were seen for the unequal and terrible laws that they were. Renquist would say that his writing was not his opinion, but the job he had to do. Many in the Senate wouldn't believe him, but his vote for confirmation was 65-33. 

Later in his career, he presided over the Clinton impeachment and Bush v. Gore in 2000. He wrote four books as well.