LATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE HALLUCINATED, BATTLED ADDICTION

A late chief justice, William Rehnquist, hallucinated about being the
victim of a CIA plot while struggling to break a decade-long
dependence on a prescription sedative, according to newly released FBI
files.

Rehnquist's use of large doses of the medication, Placidyl, became
public in 1981 when he was hospitalized for back pain and drug-related
complications. The issue arose again in 1986 when he was nominated as
chief justice, but it did not impede his confirmation.

Much of the information disclosed last week under the Freedom of
Information Act comes from an FBI investigation conducted in
connection with Rehnquist's 1986 nomination. Part of the inquiry
sought to determine how the jurist obtained about 1500 milligrams of
the drug each day when the recommended maximum dose was 500 milligrams.

A Washington newspaper that requested the file, Legal Times, reported
that one doctor interviewed by the FBI said Rehnquist was so
disoriented during his hospitalization that he went "to the lobby in
his pajamas in order to try to escape."

Prior to the 1981 treatment, the justice sometimes slurred his speech,
court observers said, but no evidence indicated that his work was affected.

The files also describe the FBI's efforts in 1971 to support
Rehnquist's nomination as an associate justice. The bureau conducted
background checks on two Phoenix, Ariz., residents expected to testify
against Rehnquist, Legal Times said.

The files also detail a scandal surrounding the FBI's interviews of
other potential Rehnquist critics, including a Harvard Law School
professor, Laurence Tribe.

Rehnquist died in 2005, at age 80.