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The Legacy Chief Justice Rehnquist; Recovery Efforts Continue in Gulf Coast

Aired September 06, 2005 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a lot to get to, not just along the Gulf Coast, but at the Supreme Court as well. CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.
Left behind but not forgotten, the plight of pets stranded in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. What's been done to aid the animals? We'll get to that ahead this hour.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

We are going to start with mission critical, the latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

There are now 13,000 active duty forces and 38,000 National Guard troops on the ground in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. U.S. military officials say the city of New Orleans is secure. Eight-and- a-half million meals have been delivered in the region, along with 15 million liters of water and more is on the way. New Orleans mayor says no water will be given to people who refuse to evacuate.

The air evacuation of the seriously ill and elderly from New Orleans Airport is nearing an end. Over five days, almost 10,000 people were flown out to hospitals and nursing homes outside the region. The plan to relocate some 4,000 evacuees to cruise ships has been put off for now. We'll tell you why in just a moment. Some of the Houston evacuees were to be moved this morning to ships off of Galveston but the evacuees said they wanted to focus on finding loved ones or look into other places to stay.

And water is being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain. The draining process began after they army corp of engineers patched the broken levee along the 17th Street Canal.

And we are showing you live pictures from the U.S. Supreme Court. The casket bearing Chief Justice William Rehnquist body has just arrived and his fellow justices and the court staff are paying their final respects at this hour. Public viewing will begin just a few minutes from now.

CNN has also learned that a Louisiana state agency is considering a plan -- And we will get back to the funeral and to the ceremony to pay respects to William Rehnquist in just a moment. In fact, you know what, this would be a good time to do just that. We're going to go back to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. As we said, the casket bearing the body of the Chief Justice has arrived at the Supreme Court. And we do expect a solemn, quiet moment in just a bit. Until we see the casket, let me fill you in on what is going to happen here. This is a chance for the remaining justices and staff to pay their respects to the former chief justice. And there you see the current justices.

We're going to spend some time talking about the legacy of William Rehnquist with some of our correspondents here. We have Wolf Blitzer standing by, our Senior Legal Analyst Jeff Toobin and Joe Johns is at the Supreme Court as well.

Jeff, let's go ahead and start with you. It's so much more to say about William Rehnquist than just that he was a conservative chief justice.

JEFF TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I guess for today's purposes, what is worth noting is what a beloved individual he was at the court across this political spectrum. You know Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you see her saw her walking in there. Someone who felt a deep personal affection for the chief justice and that's true across the board, including the employees of the Supreme Court. And I think over the next two days of remembrances, some of that affection will be obvious even to those of us watching from the outside.

KAGAN: And he spent over 30 years of his life at this court.

TOOBIN: And it's a place where a lot of people spend a long time, including the people on the staff. And the chief justice, especially compared to his predecessor, was someone who really took care to nurture the institution in a way that everyone around them appreciated it. You can see Sandra Day O'Connor there, I believe, with the white hair. I believe it's Justice Scalia with the back to the camera.

KAGAN: And interesting that Justice Scalia is on the right, Sandra Day O'Connor in the middle of the screen. Kind of represents the court that Chief Justice Rehnquist was presiding over.

TOOBIN: Indeed. I believe that is Kathy Arburg (ph) with the blond hair, who is the press officer for the court. Clarence Thomas with his back to the camera. And then Justice Breyer in front of him. The court does almost everything by seniority. And you'll see Justice Breyer, Justice Ginsburg. It does not look like David Souter is there. And it doesn't look like Anthony Kennedy is there. I know Anthony Kennedy was in Asia. He will be back apparently by tomorrow.

KAGAN: And, on that note, let's go ahead and bring in our Joe Johns.

Joe, this is two days of ceremonies taking place. Both today to pay respects and then the funeral tomorrow.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The funeral to be held at St. Matthews Church. A very famous catholic church here in Washington, D.C. Interestingly, the chief justice was Lutheran but there is an arrangement whereby people who come from a different division of the Christian faith may hold funeral services there. The chief justice, as you mentioned, having a number of the clerks out there on the stairs, including John Roberts, of course, who's been nominated to succeed him. The chief justice had a very close relationship, we are told, with many of his former clerks, seen as a mentor to so many of them.

We heard stories last week sitting down with one of the former clerk whose actually served with John Roberts who said, from time to time when a clerk was working on one particular case or another, the chief justice would grab him and they'd go for a walk right around here and talk through the case. An extraordinary situation for someone pretty much fresh out of law school, among the best and brightest in the country. Now we see a number of those clerks out there.

John Roberts, we're told, expected to be one of the pallbearers as well already here.

KAGAN: We did see him in that group. Probably, Joe, where you're standing, you weren't able to see on your monitor, if you even have one, but we did see John Roberts in that group walk by and we'll probably see him in just a moment come through that door. There he goes. There goes John Roberts.

On that note, let me go ahead and bring in my colleague, Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, all this ceremony not just because this is a beloved man who's so well liked. As chief justice, he's entitled to this state sponsored official funeral.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's entitled to what he's certainly going to get. And, in fact, he's entitled to a lot more. It will be a private ceremony tomorrow at Arlington National Ceremony. A private ceremony in the cathedral tomorrow as well. He could have had a much more lavish or pompous kind of state funeral but they decided, for whatever reason, he wanted to play it down.

This is clearly one of those moments where the pallbearers, many of them had been clerks, Daryn, for the chief justice, including John Roberts, who we see there. And all of them consistently say the same thing, they were so moved by this chief justice. He was a mentor to them, whether they were conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican. He used to have an annual reunion where they would all get together and they would cherish those moments because he played such a vital role in all of their lives.

I know I've spoken with many of his former clerks over the past few weeks just preparing for this and all of them said the same thing, they simply loved this man. They cherished those moments that they worked for him on the U.S. Supreme Court. John Roberts, first and foremost, among them. And I dare say, it's a real special moment for him now to be considered as his successor.

KAGAN: And as we look at the hearse opening in the back and the flag-draped casket, those former law clerks of his probably considering this one of the biggest honors of their lives. And we'll see John Roberts there second in the back on the left. One of the biggest honors to be asked to do this and yet probably one of the most solemn moments as well.

TOOBIN: You know, Daryn, supreme court justices are entitled to four law clerks. But the chief justice always had three. He liked an intimate relationship with his clerks. He liked to do a lot of the writing himself, especially in his earlier years on the bench. I think that just shows the closeness of the relationship.

And also you have to remember, supreme court justices, they can't talk about their work with anyone. They rarely talk about it with their spouses. It's so secret, it's so private. All they can talk about it, the only people they can talk about it with are their law clerks. So it really is an unusual professionally intimate relationship. And it was true in the Rehnquist chambers, that's for sure.

KAGAN: And this is such an intimate moment as we watch the former clerks become pallbearers. I think this would be a good time to just pause and watch.

The casket carrying the body of Chief Justice William Rehnquist making it to the top of the steps. It's going into the Supreme Court's great hall and that's where it will the chief justice's body will lie in repose as the public and his staff are able to pay their last respects.

A very emotional moment as the you watched the pallbearers, including many of his former clerks, including John Roberts, carry the casket up the steps of the Supreme Court, past the remaining current justices, including a very emotional Sandra Day O'Connor who, of course, made news herself when she announced her retirement earlier this year surprising many who thought it would be the chief justice who would be the first to retire at the end of this year's term.

Wolf, so many symbols there. Not only Sandra Day O'Connor but also as you watch John Roberts, the man now nominated to be the next chief justice of the United States carrying the casket of William Rehnquist.

BLITZER: Yes, and another symbol about to become very evident to our viewers, Daryn. This casket will be placed upon Abraham Lincoln's catafalque, this structure, this platform of rough pine that carried the casket of Abraham Lincoln. It was built in 1865. It was last used as the catafalque for Ronald Reagan's casket here in Washington when he passed away.

These pallbearers, including John Roberts, who is second on the right on that first row from the screen, they will be placing this casket on this catafalque and the body casket will lie in repose now today and tomorrow until the funeral ceremony at that catholic church here in Washington and then the formal burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

All of this very symbolic, Daryn, and certainly appropriate for this chief justice.

KAGAN: We're going to go back to silence now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Rest here now, child of God, William Hubbs Rehnquist. Rest here now, hold you so well, here to be honored by a nation that you served so well. Rest here, child of God. Know that you are loved and that God's grace and mercy shelters you in the shadow of this (INAUDIBLE), braces you, (INAUDIBLE). Rest here now, child of God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reading from Psalm 139. "Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word was on my tongue, oh, Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before. You lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me and is so (INAUDIBLE) that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I am (ph) send to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed (INAUDIBLE), you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest (INAUDIBLE) of the sea, even there your hands shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light around me become night," even the darkness is not dark to you and night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward heart. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works that I now very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book you have written all the days that come before me when none of them has yet existed.

How great be your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them. I tried to count them. They are more than the sands. I come to the end, I am still with you.

Will remain to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Holy Father, hear us now as we thank you for William Hubbs Rehnquist. Hear us now, oh God, as we gather, family, friends, colleagues, loved ones, people who admired and people that he served. Hear us as we pray, oh God, that we may have your comfort as we are confident of his presence with you. Hear us, oh God, for we cry out. We seek your mercy. We beg your Holy Spirit in our lives in these moments.

Now, oh God, as you have often blessed this place where your child rests, bless it with your presence. Bless all who come to visit your child. Oh God, your blessings we seek. In your holy name, Amen.

Now we (INAUDIBLE). Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thin is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and be gracious unto you.

KAGAN: And with that, we're watching the current Supreme Court justices walk out of the hall there. Part of the prayer, as it was said, "rest here in the halls you know so well. William Hubbs Rehnquist spent over 30 years of his life as a justice and chief justice of the United States.

Let's bring Joe Johns back in.

Joe, this kicks off the public viewing. The public now having a chance after the very emotional opportunity for the justices and Rehnquist's family members.

Do we have Joe?

JOHNS: Hi. Yes. Daryn, exactly right.

I was thinking just a few minutes ago when Wolf was talking about the Lincoln catafalque, the fact is the chief justice has written fairly extensively about Abraham Lincoln in his book. "All The Laws But One" came out in the late 1990s. He talked about how, during wartime, presidents can and do suppress many civil liberties. Suggesting that all the laws are silent. And it was very interest that that book would come out well before 2001. Of course, and the Patriot Act, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq and all that followed, quite a impression (ph) publication, if you will, and one of many books the chief justice wrote during his lifetime.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Joe Johns at the Supreme Court. As we were listening to Joe, we were watching the cameras zoom in on John Roberts.

Wolf, the man who, if President Bush has his way, will become only the 17th chief justice ever of the United States.

BLITZER: And we're anxiously awaiting, as Joe reported just a little while ago, word from the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Daryn, when those hearings will begin. Perhaps as early as Thursday. Perhaps next Monday. Maybe even next Tuesday.

Although everyone anticipates for John Roberts sailing will be relatively smooth. And he will get confirmed when all is said and done. He will face some tough questions, though, from several of the important Democrats on the judiciary committee. That will be the next chapter in this saga.

And a lot of speculation, Daryn, as you know, when the president will nominate someone who replace Sandra Day O'Connor. And there's some pressure on the president to simply wait, I am told, until after John Roberts is confirmed as the chief justice and then go forward with a new name. We'll have to wait and see with from the White House what they decide to do there.

KAGAN: I know a lot of things in that town run on pressure and efforts to move things on to the next chapter.

But, Jeff, as we wrap things up here on this ceremony, let's do that with thoughts about the man, William Rehnquist.

TOOBIN: Well, I have to say, what really struck me in the ceremony was looking at the red rimmed eyes of Sandra Day O'Connor. I mean the two of them who are leaving the court together, as it were, have this extraordinary relationship. It's totally . . .

KAGAN: They go back to Stanford days.

TOOBIN: Totally unprecedented in the history of the Supreme Court. Classmates at Stanford Law School. Then through a series of serendipitous events. Both wind up settling the Phoenix, Arizona. They become very close friends. Their families socialize. Sandra Day O'Connor organized a support in 1971 for William Rehnquist's nomination to the Supreme Court. Ten years later, she is nominated. They serve together for over 20 years. It's just an extraordinary partnership that's ending today. And you can see the emotional toll it's taking on Sandra Day O'Connor and how could it be otherwise.

KAGAN: A lifetime spent together on so many different places.

Jeff Toobin, Joe Johns, Wolf Blitzer, thank you for your help in the coverage there.

Once again, public viewing taking place from right now until 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday and 10:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow until noon. And then a private burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

We'll take a break. We're back after this.

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