Pragmatist: Judge O’Connor seems issue-oriented

New York Times

Like supporters and detractors of her Supreme Courtnomination, Sandra O’Connor devoted the better part of last week to a review of the state legislation and judicial decisions that constitute the record of much of her public life. I With her office at the Arizona Court of Appeals overflowing with congratulatory bouquets, her desk cluttered with papers and files, and her law clerk, husband and friends helping with the review, Judge O’Connor looked up during a brief break Friday morning to say with a s1 igh, “It’s a nightmare.” “Fifty years is a long time,” she said, “and it’s hard to remember everything you did.” In addition to being a state appellate judge, Sandra O’Connor was, in no particular order, president of the local Heard Museum, a board member of the local Salvation Anny, a director of the Phoenix chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, a director of the local YMCA, a national vice president of the Soroptimist Club, a former trustee of Stanford University, a board member of the Arizona State University Law School and a lay member of the national accrediting body for medical schools. The review is far from complete, but the woman, public and private, who has so far emerged from an examination of those -records and from conversations with friends, colleagues and adversaries, is by political instinct, judicial philosophy, economic standing and personal temperament both similar to and different from the constituency that elected Ronald