A Tribute

A TRIBUTE

In the spring of 1989, 1 turned 33 and planned to marry in late summer. That same spring, Sandra Day O’Connor turned 59. Soon to be a first-time grandmother, she was still recovering from breast cancer therapies of the previous fall and winter. At various moments during those springtime months, both of us must have had thoughts about parenting, about children, about our futures and about the fragility of our lives. I recall having had such thoughts the day the Justice took her clerks for a stroll around the Tidal Basin to admire the cherry blossoms in all their fleeting beauty. Maybe similar thoughts were on her mind. We were probably also thinking about parents, children and fragility in a more immediate way that afternoon. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services1 was set for oral argument on April 26. The Justice’s vote was almost certainly going to be the crucial fifth. On the Saturday morning before oral argument, we clerks would gather with the Justice to preview the arguments. Traditionally, these Saturday meetings took place in Chambers. That October Term we often met at the Justice’s home in deference to her health. Fragility was in the air. In fact, with respect to Webster, it pervaded the Court and especially her Chambers. Justices, clerks and Court watchers all recognized that Webster offered the Court an opportunity to revisit Roe. Continued protection of the right at the core of Roe-“the right of the woman to choose to have an abortion before viability