Justice O’Connor looks perfectly natural weighing an issue of life-or death

W ASHINGTON – After a while, you begin to wonder , why we get ourselves into suqi a state every time we make a breakthrough that should have come years before. It makes no sense. The most significant thing about wai<:hing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sitting at the far enl of the U.S. Supreme Court bench he(e Monday was that it all seemed so perfectly natural. justice O'Connor wore the same type of black robe that the other eight jualices wore. Her questions were every bit as probing. Her demeanor wu every bit as serious. If anything, th• new justice appeared even more ~ive in her pursuit of details, more interested in the cases up for con1ideration than some veteran me)n.bers of the court - who sat back and let her do the probing. With its marble pillars, red velvet baekdrop, heavy wooden benches and wine-colored carpets, the Supreme ' Thursday, November 12, 1981 Tom Fitzpatrick Court is more than a little impressive. Each time the court goes into session, long lines form. Lawyers from all parts of the country, law students and tourists wait patiently outside the building, hoping to gain entrance to the limited and always packed seating area. Monday was no exception. The mood of the court was somber. The case under consideration was a death penalty given to a 16-year-old by an Oklahoma court. The question that brought the case of Monty Lee Eddings this far was whether the imposition of the death penalty on a 16-year-old constituted "cruel and unusual punishment."