Keywords

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Supreme Court, precedent, free expression, originalism

Abstract

In his 19 years as Chief Justice of theUnited States, William H. Rehnquist voted in favor of the individual expression interest asserted in approximately one-fifth of the Speech Clause cases heard by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, he opposed protecting those constitutional interests in approximately two-thirds of the speech cases during that time. (His votes evidenced both speech-protective and non-protective elements just more than 10 percent of the time). This manuscript analyzes the Rehnquist jurisprudence in comparison with that of his two immediate predecessors as Chief, Warren Burger and Earl Warren. Rehnquist’s deference to government, reliance on history and formalist categorization of cases represented a shift of focus from the First Amendment as protector of minority views to the First Amendment as bastion of majoritarianism.

Original Publication Citation

Carter, E. L., & Clark, B. (2006). “Arrogance Cloaked as Humility” and the Majoritarian First Amendment the Free Speech Legacy of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(3), 650-668.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2006-09-15

Publisher

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Language

English

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Communications

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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