Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, The Washington Post
O’Connor Picks a Woman Clerk
PHOENIX, Ariz., Sept. 12 (UPI)-Sandra O’Connor, confident she will be confirmed as the first woman justice of the “supreme Court, already has selected one of her four law clerks, it was reported today. The Phoenix Gazette said O’Connor has selected Ruth V. McGregor, who has been practicing law for the Phoenix law firm of, Fennemore, Craig, )ion Ammon & Udall, as her law clerk. McGregor, 38, was the top student in Arizona State University’s Law School class of May 1974 . A spokesman for the Phoenix law firm said McGregor left the firm last week to accept the clerk’s position.
Newspaper article, Tempe Daily News, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
O’Connor hearings bland in ‘lack of controversy’
WASHINGTON – In the end, the hearings were so bland that even ~e presence of television cameras couldn’t keep the U.S. Senators in the room. And the lack of controversy surrowiding Sandra Day O’Connor should continue through Tuesday, when the Arizona judge is expected to have her Supreme Court nomination confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Like all current justices except William Rehnquist – her fellow Arizonan and old Stanford Law School classmate who received 26 negative votes a decade ago – O’Connor can anticipate opposition by fewer than a dozen of the 100 senators. She received en_thusiastic ~upport at the hear ings from women’s groups, the customary bipartisan home-state delegation and most of the committee’s senators. O’Connor’s strongest opponents, the antiabortion activists, were split by President Reagan’s hardball politics. In a letter widely circulated in Right to Life circles last month, he charged that Carolyn F. Gerster, a co-founder of Arizona Right to Life, had “a record of vindictiveness.” That attack on a potentially dangerous witness dampened the enthusiasm of some other antiabortion leaders, who argued either that Reagan was too valuable an ally to irritate in a peripheral fight, or that failure to defeat O’Connor after an all-out effort would be politically debilitating. Gerster, who described herself as a social friend and political opponent of O’Connor, might have raised squarely the issue of O’Connor’s integrity. Instead, the physician’s
Kingman Daily Miner, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
O’Connor expected to get confirmation
Full Senate action slated on floor on Wednesday WASHINGTON (AP) – From her first moment in the congressional spotlight to her final day of testimony, Sandra Day O’Connor quickly disarmed her conservative opposition and set the stage for this week’s Senate vote on her Supreme Court nomination. As a result, Mrs. O’Connor, chosen by President Reagan to become the first woman on the high court, is likely to be confirmed with barely a ripple of opposition. Admittedly, a strong feeling in Congress that it is time to end 191 years of all-male domination of the high court is giving Mrs. O’Connor’s nomination an added boost. Support for the nomination also has crossed party lines. “I have finally found an issue on which I can agree with Sen. (Barry) Goldwater,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., a member of the Judiciary Committee. Goldwater, RAriz., is an avid supporter of Mrs. O’Connor, an Arizona appeals court judge. A vote is scheduled Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee with confirmation in the full Senate likely the next day. Congress also was expected this week to receive President Reagan’s latest rounds of budget cuts, including a proposal to cut $13 billion from the defense budget . The Senate planned to vote on a new attempt to break a liberal-led filibuster against a ban on school busing, while the House was scheduled to consider legislation that would increase military pay scales. The strongest challenges to Mrs. O’Connor’s nomination came almost exclusively from
Newspaper mention, Scottsdale Daily Progress, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
O’Connor vote to be Monday
WASHINGTON (AP) – Sandra Day O’Connor, her confirmation as the first woman on the Supreme Court expected in a Senate vote Monday, likely will be sworn in next Friday. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-0 earlier this week in favor of confirmation. A White House spokesman said O’Connor had expressed a preference for the Friday swearing-in, to be held at the Supreme Court. It is not known whether President Reagan plans to attend the ceremony. O’Connor , a 51-year-old Arizona appeals court judge, would become the 102nd member in the Supreme Court’s 191-year history. She would replace retired Justice Potter Stewart. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, had hoped to schedule the Senate vote today, but on Wednesday the vote was set for Monruiy
Mesa Tribune, Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
Goldwater vows to fight Moral Majority, pro-life
WASlllNGTON (AP) – Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., pledged Tuesday to “fight every step of the way” against efforts by such groups as the Moral Majority and Pro-Life to “dictate their moral convictions to all Americans.” Goldwater, the 1964 Republican candidate for president and a leading congressional conservative, said in a Senate speech that such “single issue religious groups . . . are not using their religious clout with wisdom.” . “Just who do they think they are?” he asked. “And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?” Goldwater specifically mentioned the Moral Majority and Pro-Life, an anti-abortion group known also as March for Life. Nellie Gray, national chairman of March for Life, responded: “Shall I dictate my moral views? Yes, I shall. Just as the abolitionists stood up against slavery so the pro-life people shall stand up against the slaughter of the innocents. That’s who I am.” The Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the fundamentalist and conservative Moral Majority, could not immediately be reached for comment on Goldwater’s speech. Goldwater said the Moral Majority, Pro-Life and similar groups are often referred to as elements of “the new conservatism.” But he said, “I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics. “The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative
Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
Thurmond predicts unanimous OK today: Sandra O’Connor appears to be a shoo-in
WASHINGTON – Sandra Day O’Connor awaited confirmation by the Senate today as the first woman on the Supreme Court. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee predicted the vote would be unanimous. As the Senate opened debate on President Reagan’s first high court nomination, there was praise for …
tion on abortion, Goldwater said, it . probably would have tainted her ability to vote on the issue as a coan associate justice. — ; “They would have denied themselves a future anti-abortion vote,” Goldwater said. Liberals and conservatives alike have praise …
Liberal Sen. Howard Metzen – baum, D-Ohio, for example, said he was troubled by Mrs. O’Connor’s conservative views on whether poor defendants in criminal cases should be guaranteed a lawyer . Nonetheless, Metzenbaum said a rC1minee never should be rejected because of personal views.