People who know him in Washington, D.C., of various ideological stripes, say this is not the type to be a fundamentalist. He is clearly extremely able, and his opinions are real lawyers' opinions.

Rehnquist really was treated unfairly, ... A person is a career, not a moment.

Why should we be governed by people long dead? ... In any case, the group that ratified the Constitution included just a small subset of the society; it excluded all women, the vast majority of African Americans, many of those without property, and numerous others who were not permitted to vote.

The 'cash for clunkers' program was a big success in part because it gave people the sense that the economy was moving.

If a company has acted badly, people want to punish it - not in order to deter future misconduct, but simply because they're outraged. And the more outraged they are, the more punishment they want to inflict.

Concerned about re-election, interest-group reactions, the media, or fundraising, many legislators have found it in their interest to refuse to cooperate with members of the opposing party - or to treat them as enemies in some kind of war, in which the whole point is to defeat and humiliate them. But the American people have been the real losers.