NIU and DeKalb community members packed the 1,000-seat Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center Thursday night to hear Chief Justice William Rehnquist deliver a historical perspective of the American independent judicial system.

The 64-year-old Rehnquist, who was appointed chief justice by President Ronald Reagan two years ago, reminded the audience that many of the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution were not “a uniquely American contribution to the art of government.” He cited the English Magna Carta and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man as examples.

The original contribution of the Constitution to government, Rehnquist said, was the introduction of judges independent of the executive power to enforce constitutional rights. The landmark case of Marbury vs. Madison in 1803 established that it was “the province of the federal courts to have the last say on questions arising under the United States Constitution.”

Rehnquist, dressed in a charcoal gray suit and red tie, told audience members that the consitutional doctrine of separation of powers was a distinguishing feature between the American system of government and foreign models from which several U.S. constitutional ideals were borrowed.

He recounted an example of the blurry division between executive and judicial powers that occurred during the time of the “Reign of Terror” in France. At the close of the 18th century, “revolutionary tribunals” were set up in France to try political “offenders.”

Judges and jurors were appointed by France’s main legislative body, and jurors could interrupt trials to announce their verdicts even before all evidence had been presented. “A rather unsettling thing for the defendant,” Rehnquist remarked.

The chief justice visited NIU as part of NIU’s speaker series celebrating the bicentennial of the Constitution. Leonard Strickman, dean of NIU’s College of Law, said Rehnquist is the second supreme court justice to visit NIU within six months, as Associate Justice Harry Blackmun delivered the principal address at the graduate school’s graduation ceremony in May.

Rehnquist has been a member of the Supreme Court for 16 years.

Student protests were a part of Rehnquist’s visit to NIU. Shortly before the scheduled 8 p.m. start of the address, a group of about six protesters, including John Lennon Society members Jim Fabris and Julie Stege and former Student Association President Jim Fischer, moved through the crowd to the front of the auditorium carrying signs. One large paper banner read, “Down with Rehnquist.”

Fliers had been posted and circulated prior to the speech by the JLS and the Student Committee on Political Action speaking out against the chief justice. The JLS flier had urged students to “Come Protest the Legalization of Racism.”

It protested the Supreme Court’s decision to re-evaluate the civil rights case of Runyon vs. McCrary in light of the more recent Patterson vs. McLean Credit Union case. Brenda Patterson, in that case, alleged that she had been made to quit her credit union job because of racial harassment.

Many audience members booed the protesters and shouted, “Go home JLS.” Jon Dalton, vice president for student affairs, asked several of the protesters to leave on their own. After about five minutes, the group walked back through the crowd and left the auditorium after a short period.