The Rehnquist funeral

Today, I attended the funeral service for Chief Justice Rehnquist.  The services for the Chief -- a Lutheran -- were held in St. Matthew's Cathedral, in Washington, D.C.  It was a beautiful event.  Justice O'Connor and President Bush shared nice, appropriate reflections, and the Chief's grand-daughter, son, and one of his daughers were extremely moving.  I was, I admit, envious of our Lutheran friends for their music:  No "On Eagles' Wings" or "Gather Us In," but "For all the Saints," "Amazing Grace", and "Faith of our Fathers."  (See correction below) 

I learned a lot about the Chief at the funeral.  He never (around me, anyway) wore his faith on his sleeve, but it was clear from things that his family and his pastor said that he was a man of serious, thoughtful faith, with a deep -- and very Lutheran -- confidence in God's grace.

Before the funeral, I was able to keep vigil by the Chief's casket, with my co-clerks, in the Court's great hall, while visitors and mourners  came through to pay their respects.  It was striking, to me, how few of the visitors were people of the "kind" I expected to see -- i.e., D.C. lawyers in charcoal grey suits.  All kinds of people -- tourists, cab drivers, barristas, maintenance workers, and Senators -- passed in front of the casket, often stopping to cross themselves.  Some of the Court police and building staff, whom I knew from a decade ago, talked with me about how much the Chief meant to them, and how much he had done for them.

It was, in a way, a happy (though sad) event.  A celebration of a live lived fully and well.

One theme came up, again and again:  The Chief Justice worried often that too many lawyers did a bad job of finding balance in their lives, and that they were unhappy because they did not remember that their families and loved ones were the most important things.  Good advice for law students.

Rick

CORRECTION:  I was reminded by a friend and former Rehnquist clerk that, of course, "Faith of our Fathers" is a Catholic hymn, "written by Frederic Faber, a former Anglican minister who had converted to Roman Catholicism."  Here is the original third stanza:

Faith of our fathers, Mary's prayers
Shall win our country back to Thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
England shall then indeed be free.

No wonder I enjoyed singing it so much!