ALEX CHADWICK, host: Chief Justice Rehnquist was known as a great legal intellect; also, as a      man with a sly sense of humor.  Both are evident in these remarks which      he made six years ago.  This was after he presided as judge in the US      Senate during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.  And at      the end of that proceeding, he left the senators with these words.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Chief Justice WILLIAM REHNQUIST:  The chair wishes to make a brief      statement, without objection, I trust.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Chief Justice REHNQUIST:  More than a month ago I first came here to      preside over the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment.  I was a      stranger to the great majority of you.  I underwent the sort of culture      shock that naturally occurs when one moves from the very structured      environment of the Supreme Court to what I shall call, for want of a      better phrase, `the more free-formed environment of the Senate.'</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: I leave you now a wiser, but not a sadder, man.  I have been impressed by      the manner in which the majority leader and the minority leader have      agreed on procedural rules in spite of the differences that separate      their two parties on matters of substance.  I've been impressed by the      quality of the debate in closed session on the entire question of      impeachment as provided for in the Constitution.  Agreed-upon procedures      for airing substantive divisions must be the hallmark of any great      deliberative body.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Our work as a court of impeachment is now done.  I leave you with the      hope that our several paths may cross again under happier circumstances.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: The late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Rehnquist,      speaking to the Senate in 1999.  Mr. Rehnquist died Saturday at the age      of 80.  He'll be buried on Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: I'm Alex Chadwick.  NPR's DAY TO DAY continues.
One of the most historic moments in Chief Justice William Rehnquist's tenure came in 1999 as he presided over the Senate impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. We hear Rehnquist's concluding remarks at that proceeding.