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Chief Justice Rehnquist and Chief Justice Roberts Did Not See Eye-to-Eye About Dames & Moore v. Regan

In the South Texas Law Review, Rehnquist described his opinion in Dames & Moore as "similarly important" to Gibbons v. Ogden. His law clerk, and future Chief Justice, would disagree.

Josh Blackman | 9.23.2026 11:54 AM

I've always been fascinating by Dames & Moore v. Regan. Justice Rehnquist, the future Chief Justice, writes a landmark separation of powers ruling. And at the time his law clerk was John Roberts, also the future Chief Justice. I've explored before how Roberts contributed little or nothing to that written opinion. Back then, the Justices handled emergency docket cases on their own.

In the tariffs case, Roberts basically implored counsel to not even cite the case.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Counsel, you --you've already mentioned Dames & Moore three --three times, which surprises me a little because the Court in Dames & Moore went out of its way to say that it was issuing a very narrow decision it pretty much expected to apply only in this case.

But how did........

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