The White House believes Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court will resign in June, The New York Times reports.

Senior officials are sure Rehnquist will step down due to his health problems. He underwent surgery for thyroid cancer last fall but has not returned to court since then, missing oral arguments in the contract support cost case and the Oneida Nation case. He will again miss two more weeks starting today.

Senior officials said they are already considering possible nominations to the court. One name mentioned by the paper is John G. Roberts of the D.C. Court of Appeals. As an attorney in private practice, Roberts helped the state of Alaska in the Venetie case and the state of Hawaii in Rice v. Cayetano case.

Get the Story:
New Round of Speculation About Rehnquist's Farewell (The New York Times 2/22)
pwnyt
Rehnquist to Miss 2 Weeks on Bench (The Washington Post 2/21)
pwpwd

Relevant Links:
NARF-NCAI Tribal Supreme Court Project - http://doc.narf.org/sc/index.html

Related Stories:
Inaugural is Rehnquist's first public appearance (01/21)
Passage of time at issue in Oneida Nation case (01/12)
Supreme Court takes action on Indian law cases (01/11)
U.S. Supreme Court decides cases without Rehnquist (12/14)
Reid's Supreme Court comments stir debate (12/07)
Sen. Reid calls Justice Thomas 'an embarrassment' (12/6)
U.S. Supreme Court asked to rule on state taxation (12/02)
Peabody takes coal lease dispute to high court (12/01)
Rehnquist won't return to court until next year (11/29)
Hearing set for Oneida Nation treaty rights case (11/12)
Tribal contracts pose conflict for U.S. Supreme Court (11/10)
Court to hear self-determination contract case (11/9)
Supreme Court takes action on Indian law cases (11/02)
Mille Lacs diminishment case before Supreme Court (10/22)
South Dakota challenge to tribes rejected by high court (10/19)
Tribes file briefs in Oneida Nation land case (10/18)
Court won't rehear challenge to tribal land base (05/21)
Supreme Court to resolve self-determination dispute (03/23)
Supreme Court affirms tribal powers over all Indians (04/20)
Minn. tribe wins another round in reservation dispute (03/10)
Supreme Court weighs self-determination dispute (03/09)
Cantwell stresses importance of judicial picks (6/17)
Tribal fears in Supreme Court case go unrealized (5/20)
Supreme Court case too close to call for some (4/1)
Supreme Court tussles with tribal sovereignty case (4/1)
Supreme Court case pits tribes against states (3/31)
Supreme Court panel's predictions mostly came true (3/19)