SHOCKING LOOK AT AILING REHNQUIST
By VINCENT MORRIS
WASHINGTON — One of the most powerful men in
America, cancer-stricken Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist,
looked very, very ill yesterday.
I say that because I unexpectedly came face to face with the
80-year-old, wheelchair-bound Rehnquist as his aides pushed him down an
endless series of basement corridors in the Capitol.
The longtime chief justice hasn't been seen in public in several
months and it was clear to me why.
Rehnquist was hunched over in his wheelchair, an old hunting cap
pulled down low over his ears to cover up his blotchy skin and near
baldness, possibly the result of the aggressive treatment he's getting
for his thyroid cancer.
His eyes looked sunken and lifeless. A plastic collar was wrapped
tightly around his neck, where his throat had been opened recently for a
tracheotomy.
I tried to make eye contact and wanted to offer a word of
encouragement. Our eyes never met.
Rehnquist, who has not been appearing at Supreme Court sessions this
year, had arranged for a private view of the platform outside the
Capitol, where on Thursday he'll swear in President Bush to a second
term.
At the Capitol yesterday, Rehnquist struggled to get out of his
wheelchair for a view, as police kept onlookers back and people averted
their eyes to spare him embarrassment. |