O’Connor doesn’t regard any of her glass ceiling-shattering achievements as her most important legacy, Evan Thomas said. Rather she regarded it as being “in conversation with other branches of government.” “She believed in making law slowly, case by case, almost inch by inch, on big controversial cases on issues like abortion and affirmative action,” Evan Thomas said.įor her, the Supreme Court was not the final word, he said. Warren Burger sent her an academic study advising women who take jobs in male bastions to behave passively.ĭuring her 25 years on the court, she was the swing vote in 330 cases.
#WHERE DOES SANDRA DAY O CONNOR LIVE PRO#
In her retirement she was written five books: Lazy B, Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American West, and Chico, a children’s book about her childhood experiences The Majesty of Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice, a collection of essays on legal history, and Out of Order, Stories from the History of the Supreme Court.Before her first conference with the other justices, Byron White, a former pro football player, gripped O’Connor’s hand so hard it brought tears to her eyes. Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barak Obama. In 2009 Justice O’Connor was awarded the U.S. She has honorary degrees from Elon University and Yale University. Military Academy for her commitment to the ideals of duty, honor and country, and the Franklin Award from the National Conference on Citizenship for commitment to public service, and for strengthening civic participation. Justice O’Connor has received numerous awards during her lifetime, including the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the U.S. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State.” Writing with Justices Kennedy and Souter she said, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. She is perhaps best known today for her support of the constitutional precept that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right to control one’s reproductive destiny. Hers was a moderating voice and when the make-up of the court became more conservative, she found herself casting the swing vote. “Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code,” she said. Sandra Day O’Connor charted a cautious, careful path on the Supreme Court. In later life Justice O’Connor credits the can-do, self-reliant frontier values of her childhood with shaping her pragmatic judicial philosophy. The birth occurred at the since-demolished Hotel Dieu Hospital in El Paso. Concerned that she receive a good education, her parents sent her to El Paso to live with her grandmother and to attend school. The couples first daughter, Sandra Day, was born in 1930. Sandra Day grew up on a cattle ranch, spending her early years in an adobe house with no running water and no electricity, on the Arizona-New Mexico border. Today Justice O’Connor maintains an active teaching, speaking, and writing schedule, with a strong interest in judicial independence. Ultimately she accepted the nomination and served for twenty-five years, retiring in 2006. And if she failed, she mused, possibly there would be no more women on the Court. She worried she was not up to the challenge.
I think she'll make a good justice." Justice O’Connor was not so sure. Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. She was appointed by Ronald Reagan, who wrote in his diary (July 6, 1981): "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for Supreme Court. Sandra Day O’Connor likes to call herself FWOTSC: First Woman on the Supreme Court. 2005 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate in Public Service & the Humanities
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