Another episode of 'Lives of the Right Wing Nuts':
FBI Documents Reveal Nixon, Reagan Intimidated Rehnquist Witnesses, and Detail the Late Chief Justice’s Addiction to Painkillers
Newly released FBI documents reveal how the Nixon and Reagan administrations used the FBI to intimidate witnesses set to testify against the late chief justice William Rehnquist at his confirmation hearings. The documents also reveal Rehnquist’s dependency on pain medication once lead him to try to escape a hospital stay in his pajamas after convincing himself of a CIA plot against his life. We speak with the reporter who broke the story. Newly-released FBI documents reveal dramatic details about former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s two confirmation battles and his 1981 hospitalization and dependence on a painkiller. The documents show that both the Nixon and Reagan administrations ordered the monitoring of witnesses set to provide testimony critical of Rehnquist during his 1971 and 1986 confirmation process.
The documents also reveal that during Rehnquist’s 1981 hospital stay, doctors reported that he exhibited severe withdrawal after he stopped receiving the highly toxic drug Placidyl. Rehnquist was said to have had hallucinations and once tried to escape from the hospital in his pajamas after convincing himself of a CIA plot against his life. The FBI released 1,561 pages of documents on Rehnquist in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act following Rehnquist’s death in September 2005. They’ve withheld an additional two hundred pages in the file and say one entire section cannot be retrieved.
Tony Mauro is with us now from Washington D.C. -- He is the Supreme Court correspondent for the Legal Times. Tony was the reporter who filed the Freedom of Information Act requests on Rehnquist... http://tinyurl.com/y2e2yx [Open in new window]
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Trivia: Rehnquist added four gold stripes to each sleeve of his robe in 1995, after viewing a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe and being inspired by the costume of the Lord Chancellor.
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FBI Documents Reveal Nixon, Reagan Intimidated Rehnquist Witnesses, and Detail the Late Chief Justice’s Addiction to Painkillers
Newly released FBI documents reveal how the Nixon and Reagan administrations used the FBI to intimidate witnesses set to testify against the late chief justice William Rehnquist at his confirmation hearings. The documents also reveal Rehnquist’s dependency on pain medication once lead him to try to escape a hospital stay in his pajamas after convincing himself of a CIA plot against his life. We speak with the reporter who broke the story. Newly-released FBI documents reveal dramatic details about former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s two confirmation battles and his 1981 hospitalization and dependence on a painkiller. The documents show that both the Nixon and Reagan administrations ordered the monitoring of witnesses set to provide testimony critical of Rehnquist during his 1971 and 1986 confirmation process.
The documents also reveal that during Rehnquist’s 1981 hospital stay, doctors reported that he exhibited severe withdrawal after he stopped receiving the highly toxic drug Placidyl. Rehnquist was said to have had hallucinations and once tried to escape from the hospital in his pajamas after convincing himself of a CIA plot against his life. The FBI released 1,561 pages of documents on Rehnquist in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act following Rehnquist’s death in September 2005. They’ve withheld an additional two hundred pages in the file and say one entire section cannot be retrieved.
Tony Mauro is with us now from Washington D.C. -- He is the Supreme Court correspondent for the Legal Times. Tony was the reporter who filed the Freedom of Information Act requests on Rehnquist... http://tinyurl.com/y2e2yx [Open in new window]
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Trivia: Rehnquist added four gold stripes to each sleeve of his robe in 1995, after viewing a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe and being inspired by the costume of the Lord Chancellor.
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posted by Dan at 10:06 AM
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