O’Connor formally resigns from appeals court

Sandra O’Connor, formally resigning from the Arizona Court of Appeals, attributed her appointment as the first woman U.S. Supreme Court justice to Gov. Bruce Babbitt and the women “of yesterday and today.” O’Connor, whose nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed 99-0 by the Senate Sept. 21, resigned, effective immediately, in a letter submitted to Babbitt. She recalled Babbitt, a Democrat, appointed her to the Appeals Court on Dec. 4, 1979 and said she doubted she would have received the Supreme Court nomination had it not been for that appointment. “You appointed me to the office I now leave,” she told Babbitt. “You appointed me not only despite the [act that we belong to two different political parties, but fully aware that my appointment did not seem politic to certain of your advisors. “I believe I would not have been named to the United States Supreme Court unless I had been a sitt_ing appellate court judge. Thus, but for your action, I would today be a Superior Court judge in Maricopa County rather than a United State Supreme Court justice in Washington. “If, indeed I will walk across the pages of history, then you played a most vital role in starting me on my journey. I thank you for that start.” O’Connor, a Superior Court judge from 1975 until she was appointed by Babbitt to the Appeals Court said she was accepting her new position and resigning from old one with mixed emotions. “I have been greatly honored by my appointment to the Supreme Court,” she said. “I have