Digital Commons Network^™

“Arrogance Cloaked As Humility” And The Majoritarian First Amendment: The Free Speech Legacy Of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Edward L. Carter, Brad Clark

Faculty Publications

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 …