Praise from Colleagues: Judges laud O’Connor

It didn’t taken Sandra O’Connor long to make a good Impression on her colleagues. In the 18 months she sat on the , Arizona Court of Appeals, she won the respect of her male colleagues, who , showered her with praise when her , name was mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee. “She has a razor-sharp mind which, combined with a steady temperament , makes her well-suited for the tough questions that would be presented to a U.S. Supreme Court justice,” said Appeals Court Judge Donald Froeb. President Reagan today broke two centuries of male exclusivity by naming Mrs. O’Connor to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart. Mrs. O’Connor, 51, is a former Republican state legislator and superior court judge. She was appointed to the state appeals court in December, 1979. A leader in Arizona GOP politics, she was co-chair of the state commit – tee to re-elect Richard Nixon in 1972. “From a judicial standpoint, I personally like her conservative approach to resolving issues before us,” said Appeals Court Judge Laurence T. Wren. But despite that conservative tag, her record in the Arizona legislative reflected a more liberal stand on women’s issues. In 1974, she sponsored a bill to present the Equal Rights Amendments to an advisory referendum. However, that proposal died in committee. Also that year, she was among nine senators who opposed a bill that would have forbidden abortions at the University Hospital in Tucson, Ariz., unless the mother’s life was endangered . She first was