University of Pennsylvania first-year Dana Rehnquist recently reminisced about the off-the-bench personality of her grandfather, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. You may have heard that was a trivia buff and a tennis player. New to us? He was a big “Old School” fan, and that’s not referring to schools of Constitutional interpretation. Seeing as how he added the gold stripes to his robe after seeing Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe,” guess all the associate judges are just lucky he didn’t have time to implement his “throw-a-cinder-block-attached-to-your-genitals-off-the-roof” initiation prank. Of course, Thomas probably would have been into it. MORE »

• Congress will approve $51.8b relief package for Katrina; joint House-Senate inquiry into hurricane response is approved. Budget director: “This will not be the last request.” [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Politicians look to gain momentum from Katrina fallout. Rothenberg: “Politicians see this as a potentially defining event and they are worried how they are going to be seen. Politicians realize that public opinion could turn on this, just the way it turned on 9/11.” [WSJ, WP]
• Democrats launch multi-front attack on administration’s response to Katrina. Pelosi on Bush: “Oblivious. In denial. Dangerous.” Kerry: “What you see here is a harvest of four years of complete avoidance of real problem solving and real governance in favor of spin and ideology.” [NYT]
• Hillary stirs up opposition with Katrina-related proposals as strategists warn Democratic rhetoric could backfire; “Privately, [Bill Clinton] has been incredulous over what he regards as the administration’s failure to grasp quickly the perilous situation materializing in New Orleans, particularly for poor African Americans.” [WP, LAT]
• Rehnquist showed “how a wise man looks at the law and a good man looks at life,” Bush eulogizes. [WP, NYT, USAT]

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• Names & Faces: Specter comments on Roberts: “It’s an opportunity to have a different approach of collegiality. I argued a case in the Supreme Court a few years back and Chief Justice Rehnquist ran a stopwatch, interrupted in mid-sentence. The word is he was looking for a way to interrupt somebody in the middle of the word ‘if.’” [WP]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Cheney remained on vacation until Thursday. Begala: “You’re not going to send him to be comforter-in-chief. He’s the type of guy who would look at them and growl, ‘Life’s tough. Get back to work.’” [NYDN]
• Liz Smith: O’Reilly says Americans cannot depend on the government. [NYP]
• Page Six: Monica Lewinsky enrolls at the London School of Economics for a master’s degree in Social Psychology. [NYP]

• Katrina relief costs estimated between $100b and $200b; Bush could be forced to trim his economic agenda. [NYT, WSJ, USAT, USAT]
• Bush promises to carefully study “wide open” list of potential justices. Senior administration official: “People are in no mood for a circus. The country is dealing with a terrible tragedy. The American people want a dignified process.” [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Emotions run as Rehnquist’s flag-draped coffin lies in Supreme Court building. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Bush will order internal investigation to “find out what went right and what went wrong” with hurricane planning. Lott: “Nothing will be the same again.” [WP, NYT, WT, USAT]
• Katrina crisis has increased polarization of the country, unlike period after 9/11. Professor: “Bush is the most partisan president in modern American history. As a result, voters in both parties are focusing on him, rather than on the specifics of the policies.” [WP]

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• Bush nominates Roberts to be chief justice; hearings will begin next week. White House official hints the next nominee will not be a white male. Bush: “It is in the interest of the court and the country to have a chief justice on the bench on the first full day of the fall term.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Democrats vow increased scrutiny of Roberts but most attention centers around the next nominee. [WP]
• Roberts‘ charisma and convictions thought to foster his effectiveness. Professor: “A committed conservative with interpersonal skills equal to or superior to Rehnquist’s would be a far more effective chief justice than a nominee of equal intellect who lacks those graces.” [WP]
• Roberts is skeptical of judicial intervention at the federal level. [WP]
• Rehnquist will be in repose at Supreme Court until tomorrow. [WP]

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• Washington Whispers: Hastert may be urged to stay put if Hillary wins ‘08 nomination. . . Some Commerce Department employees complain Gutierrez is pressuring them to participate in the Freedom Walk. . . Trump says that if he could talked to Saudi Arabia about oil, “prices would drop like a rock”. . . California Democrats float idea of a celebrity candidate to defeat Schwarzenegger: Bill Clinton? Magic Johnson? Gavin Newsom? Rob Reiner? [USN&WR]
• Inside Politics: Landrieu on “This Week”: “If one person criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me. One more word about it after this show airs and I — I might likely have to punch him — literally.”. . . 44% blame Bush in ABC/WP poll. [WT]
• Inside the Beltway: Rehnquist liked his anonymity. [WT]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: FEMA site encourages donations to Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Streisand requested to be on the same floor as Clinton when they stay at the New York Sheraton. [NYP]

• Bush may tap Roberts to be chief justice; “the situation represents a rare chance to cement a more conservative court and his own legacy at the same time.” [WP, LAT]
• Roberts‘ confirmation hearings likely to be postponed; advocacy groups mobilize. Bartlett on Rehnquist’s successor: “There is a short list, and it’s being worked very hard.” [NYT, WP, NYT, WT]
• Fellow justices surprised by timing of Rehnquist’s death. O’Connor: “I asked him, and he told me he really wanted to go another year and thought he’d be O.K. . . He was wonderful. He had a light touch. He never held a grudge.” [NYT]
• Brownstein: “[W]ith Bush’s sagging poll numbers and the turbulent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina threatening to disrupt much of his legislative agenda, the debates over Roberts and Rehnquist’s successor could offer the president his best chance to energize his core supporters and generate victories on Capitol Hill.” [LAT]
• Bush’s options lead to a conservative court. Historian Robert Dallek: “These crises are such a heavy burden, and they are so self-inflicted, except for the court vacancies, that if he is not very careful and tries to put across someone who is seen as an ultraconservative, he is going to touch off a conflagration in the Senate.” [WP, NYT, USAT]

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Have to admit, had a lot of respect for the tough old guy. MORE »