The Nation - News from Sept. 15, 1989

An angry Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said a new book on Robert H. Bork’s ill-fated Supreme Court nomination incorrectly states Rehnquist broke a promise to keep Justice Lewis F. Powell’s impending retirement a secret. In the book, “Battle for Justice,” author Ethan Bronner says Powell told Rehnquist on June 25, 1987, that he would announce his retirement the following day and asked for “a solemn promise” to keep it a secret overnight. The book says Rehnquist then called White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker with the news, and Baker told President Ronald Reagan. “That statement is in error,” Rehnquist said. “I notified Howard Baker of the retirement shortly before we went on the bench on the morning of Friday, June 26, 1987.” Bronner, however, said a tape-recorded interview with Baker supports his account of Rehnquist’s action.