Law review article

Habeas Corpus and Judicial Federalism: Some Thoughts on Finality, Comity, and Error Correction

Law review article / By

SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR

Habeas Corpus and Judicial Federalism: Some Thoughts on Finality, Comity, and Error Correction

Unlike most other nations of the world, the United States has chosen to administer justice through a dual system of state and federal courts. There is an inevitable tension inherent in our ”indestructible union of indestructible states.” 1 The balancing of state and federal interests within the federal system is never static but requires constant and flexible accommodation of the often conflicting interests. In Younger v. Harris (1971), Justice Hugo Black described the essence of what he called ”Our Federalism”:

The concept does not mean blind deference to ”States’ Rights ‘ any more than it means centralization of control over every important issue in our national government and its courts. The framers rejected both these courses. What the concept does represent is a system in which there is sensitivity to the legitimate interests of both state and national Governments, and in which the national government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.

Any realistic picture of judicial federalism must acknowledge the primary role of the states in our federal system of government. The federal government is one of specified, enumerated powers; all powers not given to the federal government in the Constitution are given to the states and to the people. The generalized police power, that critical governmental authority

Law review article

Supreme Court Justices from Georgia

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Supreme Court Justices from Georgia

BY SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR*

The newspaper headlines tell you often enough how the Supreme Court, like the other branches of the national government, reaches out to shape the lives of individual Americans. What is often overlooked, however, is how individual Americans shape the Court. It is not a surprise that Georgians have had a long and rich participation in the Court’s business.

When I became the 102nd Supreme Court Justice, many people remarked that my appointment was a break from tradition, an unusual appointment, something out of the ordinary. I think I have finally discovered what all the excitement was about. My appointment was out of the ordinary, I now understand, primarily because I was neither born in, nor ap pointed from, the state of Georgia. Consider these imposing figures. Six Justices of the Supreme Court have been Georgians, either by birth or adoption. The first was James M. Wayne, appointed by President Andrew Jackson in 1835. The most recent, of course, is Clarence Thomas, appointed by President Bush just this year. In between came Justices John Archibald. Campbell, William B. Woods, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, and Joseph Rucker Lamar. There have, in fact, been Georgians on the Court for 57 of the 202 years that there has been a Supreme Court. No wonder my appointment from Arizona only the second from that state caused a bit of a stir.

To trace the tracks of Georgians who have served on the Supreme Court is to trace

Law review article

Gender and Judging: Reflections on “Sisters in Law”

Law review article / By

Linda Hirshman, Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (New York: Harper Collins, 2015).

Mary Jane Mossman

Gender and Judging: Reflections on “Sisters in Law”

We want to explore what it might be possible to achieve within the law and whether the barrier to substantive equality is the law itself or the lack of equality vision in those who are charged with interpreting and applying the law.1

This comment about a project of “rewriting” decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, a project undertaken by a group of Canadian feminist law academics a few years ago, reveals the issue that is at the heart of Linda Hirshman’s book about the first two women appointed to the United States Supreme Court: What is the relationship between gender and judging, especially with respect to goals of substantive gender equality?2 Certainly, as women have increasingly entered the legal professions in many jurisdictions in the twentieth century, there have been high expectations that the appointment of women to the judiciary would signifi cantly advance gender equality goals. Yet, as the feminist academics who tried to rewrite the decisions about equality cases in the Supreme Court of Canada discovered, it was a difficult challenge of “pushing the law and, at the same time, staying within the limits of the law.” 3 In such a context, fundamental principles about judicial decision making may sometimes prove resistant to aspirations of gender equality in law.4

Law review article

The Intersection of the Takings Clause and Rising Sea Levels: Justice O’Connor’s Concurrence in Palazzo Could Prevent Climate Change Chaos

Law review article / By

THE INTERSECTION OF THE TAKINGS CLAUSE AND RISING SEA LEVELS: JUSTICE O’CONNOR’S CONCURRENCE IN PALAZZOLO COULD PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE CHAOS

DEVON APPLEGATE*

Abstract: Takings Clause jurisprudence is in a state of disarray. The Supreme Court of the United States has not eased the difficult task of determining what constitutes an unconstitutional regulatory taking. Although the Supreme Court provided some guidance by articulating a three-prong test for determining what constitutes such a taking, it failed to define each prong. In a concurring opinion in Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor defined the character of the governmental act prong by emphasizing the importance of the purposes served by a governmental act. Justice O’Connor’s approach is well suited to handle future environmental regulations aimed at protecting coastal regions from rising sea levels. By embracing this approach, the Court can reduce the confusion surrounding takings jurisprudence, provide uni formity at a critical time, swiftly handle the excess of takings claims that will inevitably materialize, and give deferential treatment to important regulations that possess strong public purposes.

INTRODUCTION

Over the next decade and beyond, global warming and climate change will undoubtedly bring important environmental issues before local, state, federal, and foreign governments. 1 Sea level rise, a well-known effect of global warming, has been described as one of the greatest challenges

Magazine article

O’Connor’s Law

Magazine article / By

See the world and you’ll be a better judge of everything. That’s what retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor taught the women and men who worked for her.

When Sandra Day O’Connor graduated near the top of her class from Stanford Law School in 1952, she called at least 40 law firms looking for a job. Only one would even give her an interview. The partner asked, “How well do you type?” She said she didn’t want to be a legal secretary.

O’Connor went on to have astonishing success in the law and became the first ever woman on the U.S. Supreme Court (appointed by President Reagan in 1981). Today, at a time when half of all law students are women, her achievement is perhaps easy to take for granted.

Justice O’Connor, who is 89 years old and suffering from dementia, is not as well-known as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who joined the Court in 1993, 12 years after O’Connor, but she was a trailblazer in her own way. O’Connor did not use the word “feminist,” and she was not an activist for women’s rights, yet she played a huge role advancing them. She knew what it was to be a role model for women and would say, “It’s good to be first, but you don’t want to be the last.” In public, O’Connor came across as a combination of tough cowgirl and country-club Republican—smart and stylish when she was a younger woman, and then a little matronly, but always with flashing, almost piercing eyes. She could be at once intimidating and warm.

During her 25 years on the Supreme Court, and for many

Law review article

Introduction: The Women at the United States Supreme Court

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INTRODUCTION: THE WOMEN AT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

I am Bryant Garth, the Dean of Southwestern Law School during the Women at the United States Supreme Court program hosted at the school on February 24, 2012. One of the privileges of being Dean is that I was able to welcome our community to this splendid event, which kicked off a remarkable day at this law school. We were celebrating our centennial, and we have come a very long way from the period when Southwestern was established. But this school has also stayed true to its roots. It is now my privilege to introduce the published version of this event.

The first classes at Southwestern contained disadvantaged minorities, immigrants, and others who would not have had the possibility of getting a legal education if Southwestern had not been established. And in particular, we celebrate the fact that our very first graduate was a woman. And not only was she a woman, but she made waves in the legal profession. Betty Trier Berry, the first graduate in 1915, went on to be the first woman to serve as a public defender in the United States.1

This centennial occasion reminded us of our early mission and our continuing commitment to challenge discrimination and unequal access to the legal profession. We began the day with this extraordinary panel moderated by Mary Alice Williams2 on Women at the United States Supreme Court. The panel, organized by Southwestern’s wonderful Professor Judy Sloan, comprised Sandra Day O’Connor,

Law review article, Speech

Keynote Address: The Women at the United States Supreme Court

Law review article, Speech / By

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE WOMEN AT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Judge Judith Chirlin: I don’t want to interrupt the networking that’s going on, and the fact that you are enjoying each other’s company, but we do have, as you know, a very special treat for our luncheon speaker, so I would like to introduce her. She is a woman who, probably a year and two months ago, most of us in the room had never heard of. Sorry. And as trial judges, we just read the opinions and sometimes don’t even pay attention to who wrote them. It’s just what we had to do.

But a little over a year and a half ago, Tani Cantil-Sakauye was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to be the Chief Justice of California. As you know, she is the second woman to have that position but the first Asian American. She has her bachelor’s and her J.D. from the U.C. system, from U.C. Davis. She is from the Sacramento area. She has something in common with Justice O’Connor, and that is when she got out oflaw school, she couldn’t get a legal job.

Now, she took a little bit of a different route than we heard from Justice O’Connor, because our Chief Justice became a dealer in the casinos in Reno, which, when I realized that, I thought, now I know why she’s able, so capably, to deal with all of the different personalities within the California judicial system.

For those of you who were at the National Association of Women Lawyers’ meeting yesterday, and heard the speaker from Warner Brothers talking about work-life balance, I

Magazine article

“O’Connor House Architect DK Taylor – Scottsdale’s Mysterious Modern Master”

Magazine article / By

There’s a masterpiece quietly nestled behind the lush desert foliage of Clearwater Hills, hidden from sight were it not for a pointed roof peeking out from the canopy of trees. Chances are, few people have ever seen this little gem, designed by architect DK (Donald Keith) Taylor in 1960 for himself and his wife Nellie. Not unlike this house, Modem Phoenix has had only glimpses into the life and works of this obscure but important architect. Other than his home in Clearwater Hills, we know of only one other Taylor-designed house in the Valley, O’Connor House — and it’s not just good, it’s remarkable!
To understand Taylor’s two known works, it’s important to discuss the major influences on the architecture of Scottsdale after World War II. As early as during the Great Depression, wealthy visitors would come to Scottsdale viewing it as a charming western getaway. In an effort to cash in on this allure, the Chamber of Commerce proclaimed Scottsdale as “the West’s most Western town” in 1947. Unfortunately, this western identity was often expressed literally and led to a downtown that looked like a Hollywood frontier movie set. Another factor that shaped the post-WWII architecture of Scottsdale was the town’s reputation as an artists’ haven. As early as 1929, artists and architects began to flock to this southwestern destination. The most important, of course, was Frank Lloyd Wright who purchased land in Scottsdale in 193 7 for what would eventually become his winter home, Taliesen