EARLY CAREER

EARLY CAREER
1943-46: Served in the Army Air Forces in North Africa as a weather observer.
1948: Graduated from Stanford University with bachelor's and master's degrees in political science.
1949: Earned master's degree in government from Harvard University.
1952: Graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School.
1952-53: Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson.
1953: Married Natalie Cornell, a fellow Stanford student.
1953: Moved to Arizona, began practicing law and working in the state GOP.
1969: Appointed assistant attorney general in charge of the office of legal counsel in the Nixon administration.
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
1971: President Richard Nixon nominated Rehnquist to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy left by the retirement of Justice John Harlan. The Senate voted 68 to 26 to confirm him.
1973: Dissented in Roe vs. Wade, which gave women a constitutional right to have an abortion.
1979: Disagreed with the majority in United Steelworkers of America vs. Weber, which determined that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not condemn all private, voluntary, race-conscious affirmative action plans.
CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U.S.
1986: President Ronald Reagan nominated Rehnquist to replace retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger. The Senate voted 65 to 33 to confirm him.
1996: Voted against majority in Romer vs. Evans, which voided a state constitutional amendment limiting anti-gay bias laws.
1996: Clashed with GOP over criticism of President Bill Clinton's judicial appointments.
1999: Presided over Senate impeachment trial of Clinton.
2000: Voted with the majority not to allow a manual recount in Florida during the contested presidential election.
2002: Wrote the majority opinion in Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris, which upheld a Cleveland school voucher program that provided scholarships to send children to religious schools.
Oct. 23, 2004: Had throat surgery related to thyroid cancer at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.