Chief Justice “in good form”
on Mar 15, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presided Tuesday over a two-hour session of the U.S. Judicial Conference, the policymaking arm of the federal courts. According to Judge Carolyn Dineen King, Rehnquist was “in good form” and handled the Conference meeting on a “business-as-usual” basis. King, who is chief judge of the Fifth Circuit, acts as spokesperson for the Conference.
Rehnquist is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, and has not presided over the Court’s public sessions since October. There is no word yet on whether he will be on the bench for the session that opens on Monday.
Judge King, discussing with reporters what occurred at the Conference meeting at the Supreme Court, said that the Chief Justice joked with his audience, and received a standing ovation when he entered and left the Conference meeting.
Among other actions the Conference took at its semi-annual meeting, it urged Congress to take no immediate legislative action to alter the federal sentencing system in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling limiting the Sentencing Guidelines to an advisory role.
