Burger himself may have offered the most cogent comment on his leadership.
Vorchheimer v. School District ⁵⁰ was an attack on Philadelphia's use of separate aca-
demic high schools for young men and young women. Justice Rehnquist was ab-
sent from the hearing because of illness, and the Court's initial vote was 4-4. Burger
tried to persuade his colleagues to have the case reargued after Rehnquist recov-
ered, saying that the Court should not "evade[]" the constitutional question, and
certainly anticipating that Rehnquist would vote to allow the "separate but equal"
schools. His efforts failed, and Burger wrote Justice Blackmun, "I find it difficult to
Cope with four unregenerate, unreconstructed 'rebels'! In which case I conduct as
orderly a retreat as possible." ⁵¹

The context in which the Burger Court operated meant that a continuation of
the Warren Court was simply impossible. Economic and political changes deprived
the remaining liberal Justices of the support a court needs in the society. The New
Deal-Great Society political coalition did not collapse in an instant, however, and
as it disintegrated nothing arose in its place, at least during the Burger tenure. The
political space that opened could have been occupied by any of a rather large range
of possible alternatives to Warren Court liberalism. It was occupied by country-club
Republicans in part because that was where the Court's center was, in part because
Justice Brennan skillfully consolidated that center, and in part because Burger's
performance as Chief Justice made it unlikEly that the more conservative Justice
Rehnquist could effectivEly put together an alternative conservative bloc.

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