Okay, how fucked are we that we are taking a huge, moderate-to-liberal gulp at the death of a Nixon/Reagan appointee? Here?s the Guardian on Rehnquist?s legacy:

He dissented on some landmark decisions during his career on the bench. They included Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that women have a constitutional right to an abortion. He also objected to a 2003 ruling that struck down laws criminalising gay sex, and to a ruling that preserved affirmative action to favour black student admissions at public universities.

The chief justice pressed for the expansion of states? rights at the expense of central government; he backed the death penalty and opposed the separation of church and state.

As the highest judge in the land, he presided over the impeachment trial of president Bill Clinton.

He played a pivotal role in the contentious 2000 presidential election, siding with the conservative majority in a bitterly divided court to stop ballot recounts in Florida and hand the White House to Mr Bush.

This is what we are sincerely mourning in the anticipation of something much, much worse? I?m exhausted from bad news and have no comment to make.