William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor: An Expression of Appreciation

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WILLIAM REHNQUIST AND SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR: AN EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION

Anthony M. Kennedy*

Thank you for the invitation to be here to honor Sandra O’Connor and the memory of the late William Rehnquist. We meet at Stanford, the place that did so much to shape their lives and careers. The years at Stanford gave them their skills as scholars and professionals. Those years, too, helped them find their self-definition, their sense of identity. At Stanford, they continued to shape their ethical frameworks and their beliefs that the individual can, and must, contribute to the progress of a free society. It is a privilege to discuss not just one but two great Justices, here at the University that means so much to Justice O’Connor and that Chief Justice Rehnquist ever admired.

The legal academy, the Bar, historians, and the American people will study their decisions and, in good time, assess their place in the history of the Court and the history of the law. It will be for later generations to find insights more penetrating, judgments more balanced than are possible for us; but it is appropriate for you to begin the dialogue.

My remarks are a brief introduction to your discussions and an expression of appreciation for your undertaking to study the work of my late former colleague and true friend, Chief Justice Rehnquist, and my dear friend, and still esteemed senior colleague, Justice O’Connor.

To begin, let me ask you to match this description to a famous Justice: On