Editorial, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

… who happens to be a woman

Editorial, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

By naming Arizona Judge Sandra O’Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Reagan nominated a first-rate justice who will add to the court more than a profound theoretical knowledge of the law. A judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Mrs. O’Connor is a respected legal scholar. During a distinguished political and legal career in Arizona, however, she also has demonstrated a deep sensitivity to the practical aspects of law. She is no ivory tower theorist who regards the law as the exclusive realm of a special priesthood of attorneys, something apart from the ordinary people who must live by that law. She developed that outlook not only through a logic generated by a superior intellect but also because she has been so much a part of the lawmaking process and so involved in community affairs. She is the first and only woman to hold a high leadership position in the Legislature, selected as Senate majority leader in 1973, not out of any zeal on the part of her colleagues to set an example for equal opportunity but rather because her constant pursuit of excellence earned the admiration of other senators. Because Justice-select O’Connor happens to be a woman, President Reagan gets credit for keeping a campaign promise and may gain some political leverage m the women’s movement. Be that as it may, the U.S. Supreme Court and the nation stand to benefit from the appointment.

Newspaper article, San Jose Mercury, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Stanford’s ‘dumbest’ law class really was a winner

Newspaper article, San Jose Mercury, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

Members of the Stanford Law School class of 1952 like to tell the story that one of their professors called them the dumbest law school class he’d ever lectured. , This is the class, they’re happy to point out now, that has,already produced one U.S. Supreme Court justice and is on the verge of providing another. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist and President Reagan’s nominee for the court, Sandra Day O’Connor, attended classes together at Stanford Law School and graduated in 1952. Rehnquist was first in the class and O’Connor was third. A classmate, Leon Shields, an attorney practicing in Menlo Park. said the late George Osborne oncE “slammed down a book, said it was the dumbest class he had ever taught at Stanford, and didn’t come back for two weeks.” Osborne, who taught trusts and was an expert on mortgages an

Nassau Edition, Newsday: Long Island Newspaper, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

President’s Move Shows a Deft Political Touch

Nassau Edition, Newsday: Long Island Newspaper, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

Washington-Ronald Reagan the politician has shown once again that he has the sure touch of a safecracker, and the nerves. With the announcement yesterday that he will appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court, the President has won the support of liberals and feminists and has undercut growing criticism that he has failed to give women important jobs. National Organization for Women President Eleanor Smeal, who in the past has characterized Reagan’s views on so-called women’s issues as “pathetic” and “medieval,” praised the nomination of Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor as “a major victory.” The criticism this time has come from some longstanding supporters-social conservatives, particularly antiabortion activists-but even that is not necessarily bad news for the President. Reagan’s conservative base is not really threatened, one adviser said, and the right-wing ire makes him look practically moderate. “It does a lot of things for us,” another aide, presidential pollster Richard Wirthlin, said of the appointment. “Somebody told me once that the worst thing you can do in politics is have your most ideological supporters be perfectly happy with you.” When you do, he.went on, it’s likely to mean that just about everybody else is not. Now, by appointing a woman who apparently holds moderate views on social issues, Reagan has managed to win praise from feminists who disagree with his views on the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights an:a- criticize his record on appointments.

Newspaper article, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Other Judges declare her equal to the task

Newspaper article, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

It didn’t taken Sandra O’Connor long to make a good impression on her colleagues. President Reagan yesterday broke two centuries of male exclusivity by naming O’Connor to replace retired Justice Potter Stewart. In the 18 months she ~t on the Arizona Court of Appeals, she won the respect of her male colleagues, who showered her with praise when her name was mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee. O’Connor, 51, is a former Republican state legislator and superior court judge. She was appointed to the state appeals court in December 1979.

During her years in the Senate, she promoted a modernized mental treatment and commitment law, pushed for constitutional spending limits and supported open-meeting laws. She voluntarily left the Legislature in 1974 and was elected Maricopa County Superior Court judge, a position she held until moving on to the Appeals Court. Majority leader “She has a razor-sharp mind which, combined with a steady temperament, makes her well~ted for the tough questions that would be presented to U.S. Supreme Court justices,” said Appeals Court Judge Donald Froeb. A leader in Arizona GOP politics, she was co-chair of the state committee to re-elect Richard Nixon In 1972. ”She. not only Is an outstanding person In all respects, but she is exceptionally well qualified in the legal field,”‘ Froeb said. Sb first was appointed to the Arizona Senate In 1969, was elected twice to that body and In 1973-74 served,.” as majority .leader .,..;. first . woman in the

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