Judge O’Connor earned peers’ respect

Experience on trial bench expected to help nominee

Arizona Appeals Court Judge Sandra Day O’Connor would take a qualification to the U.S. Supreme Court shared by only one other current justice – experience as a trial judge. That experience can be of “inestimable value” to the Supreme Court, several . U.S. District Court judges said Tuesday. Judge O’Connor’s tenure as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge “can be a major contribution (to the Supreme Court),” U.S. District Judge Valdemar Cordova said. He served with her in the Maricopa County Superior Court. “I believe it is important to have a good balance on the Supreme Court,” he said. “The addition of Judge O’Connor can provide that balance. She can shed the light of her trial court experience on the proceedings of the Supreme Court.” Cordova said trial judges must make decisions “in the heat of battle .” They do not have “the lu:r.ury of contemplation” afforded appellate judges. “Almost any competent lawyer can take a court transcript and pick it apart after the fact,” he said. “So-called Monday-morning quarterbacking is easy.” Cordova prai sed Mrs. O’Connor ‘s “knowledge of th e law and e:r.perience on the bench” and said it would be of “inestimable value to t he Supreme Court.” Presiding U.S. District Court Judge Carl A. Muecke agreed that trial e:r.perience “can be an important addition to the Supreme Court, especially in correctly ascertaining just how far an appellate court can go and what the limits of an appellate