Griswold.
Burger had heard that Warren delegated the writing of his opinions to his clerks. That was only one of the many practices that he was going to stop. As far as he was concerned, the Warren legend was a fabrication. He thought Warren was sloppy, politically motivated, interested more in results than in legal reasoning. He was a man playing to get himself a place in history, a man without intellectual honesty. Burger used to talk scornfully to his clerks about Warren's liberalism. It was late in coming, he said. Warren had been aligned with the right wing of the Republican party in California and was supposedly a states' rights champion. As governor he had strongly supported the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. As district attorney, he had authorized offshore searches of questionable legality outside the three-mile limit. Burger told his clerks that Warren was "right-wing when it paid to be right-wing, then had shifted when that became fashionable."
On June 23, Burger joined the members of the Court, the President, Attorney General Mitchell, other ranking Justice Department officials, including F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover, and members of the legal and Republican law-enforcement establishment for his swearing-in at the Supreme Court
Since it was the last day of the term, the Warren Court first handed down its three final opinions. The decisions, all involving criminal cases, effectively overruled three more conservative precedents. They were precisely the kinds of opinions that Nixon had campaigned against
Nixon, dressed in a formal cutaway, showed no emotion. When the last opinion was read, Warren recognized the President. Nixon stepped to the podium. "There is only one ordeal which is more challenging than a presidential press conference, and that is to appear before the Supreme Court." He reviewed Warren's career and praised the Chief Justice. But, he added, "The Chief Justice has established a record here in this Court which will be characterized in many ways."
In response, Warren gave a lecture—his last words from the bench—which seemed directed at Nixon. There was acid in the oblique graciousness. His theme was continuity. "I might point out to you, and you might not have looked into the matter, that it is a continuing body ... the Court develops the eternal principles of our Constitution in accordance with the problems of the day." It was Warren's way of saying that Richard Nixon too would pass. The Court, Warren said, serves only "the public interest," is guided solely by the Constitution and the "conscience" of the individual Justices. He was stepping down, Warren said, with a feeling of "deep friendship" for the other Justices "in spite of the fact that we have disagreed on so many things.
"So I leave in a happy vein, Mr. President, and I wish my successor all the happiness and success in his years on the Court, which I hope will be many."
1969 Term
By July , Chief Justice Warren Burger was in his new offices. With three months before the start of the new term, and the other Justices spending the recess at home or on vacation, he intended to consolidate his power. First, he would assume control of the building itself. On July 19, Burger, in shirt sleeves, assembled his law clerks and the Marshal—the top administrative and business officer of the Court—for a tour of the large building.
Beginning in his own small office Burger remarked that it was smaller than his old one at the Court of Appeals. More distressing was the absence of an adjoining office that could be used as a workroom. As Chief Justice he was third in protocol as official representative of the United States government after the President and Vice-President He would receive ambassadors and visiting dignitaries. "How can I entertain heads of state?" he asked, pointing to his relatively cramped quarters. It would never do. What would his guests think?
Passing through the secretaries' outer office, the