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Justice O’Connor and ‘The Threat to Judicial Independence’: The Cowgirl Who Cried Wolf?

January 1, 2007

ITEM DETAILS

Type: Law review article
Author: Arthur D. Hellman
Source: Ariz. St. L.J.
Citation: 39 Ariz. St. L.J. 845 (2007)
Date is approximate: Yes

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JUSTICE O’CONNOR AND “THE THREAT TO JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE”: The Cowgirl Who

Cried Wolf?

Arthur D. Hellman

Early this year, when Justice Sandra Day O’Connor swore in a group of newly elected Arizona state officials, she was heard to say, “I’m just an unemployed cowgirl now.” 1 Well, not quite. Justice O’Connor may have retired from active service on the United States Supreme Court, but she is hardly unemployed. As Newsweek magazine reported in February, “[h]er current schedule-packed with appeals court hearings, law school lectures, speechmaking and book writing-can make her days on the court look practically languorous.” 2

In this whirlwind of activity, one topic stands out. As her principal “retirement project,” Justice O’Connor has taken on the task of defending the independence of the judiciary. She began her campaign even before she retired, with a dedicatory address at the University of Florida School of Law in September 2005. In that speech she reviewed recent controversies and warned: “The experience of developing countries, former communist countries, and our own political culture teaches us that we must be ever vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies.”3 Two months later, she delivered a similar speech in Washington at the meeting of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Since then, Justice O’Connor has spoken on the subject in speeches and public interviews in Virginia (William & Mary), North Carolina

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