O’Connor Steps Aside on 3 Court Rulings

WASHINGTON (UPI) – Sandra O’Connor, the Supreme Court’s first woman justice, disqualified herself from three of the 15 cases argued before the court during her first three days on the bench.

Following court custom, Judge O’Connor gave no reason for excusing herself from the cases that were the subject of oral arguments, court spokesman Barrett McGurn said Wednesday.

It is not uncommon for a justice to occasionally disqualify himself from a case, possibly because of a conflict of interest. But three disqualifications by the same judge in three days is highly unusual.

McGurn said: “The tradition is not to state a reason – just to step aside. There are a variety of reasons why justices stand aside, sometimes because of old law firm associations or some other personal contact or other.”

Before joining the court, Judge O’Connor was an Arizona state appeals court judge. Before that, she was the Republican leader of the Arizona state Senate. Her husband practices law in Phoenix.

One of the three cases Judge O’Connor did not sit on the bench for involves an effort by Common Cause to get the court to uphold a $1,000 limit on spending by independent political action committees to support a candidate who accepts public money for his campaign.

It pits Common Cause, a self-styled “citizens’ I lobby,” and the Federal Elections Commission against Sen. Harrison Schmitt, R-N.M., and three political action committees that backed President Reagan.

In her first major public action as a Supreme