Houston Chronicle, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

O’Connor’s record sheds little light on constitutional beliefs

Houston Chronicle, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

Washington
Sandra D. O’Connor’s opinions during her 18 months as an Arizona Court of Appeals judge display careful reasoning and use of precedent.
They do not shed much light on her attitude toward most of the controversial constitutional issues she will face if she is confirmed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
A former Republican majority leader of the Arizona Senate, O’Connor is widely regarded as
conservative in her political outlook. Her legislative record, however.,has been attacked by anti-abortion groups that say she cast pro-abortion votes before she became a judge.
A review of O’Connor’s 30 published opinions for the Arizona Court of Appeals disclosed
none dealing with abortion. Nor did any of the opinions disclose her views on most of the other controversial constitutional issues the Supreme Court has ruled on, such as busing as a means of desegregating schools, prayer in schools, the death penalty, affirmative action and
the constitutional rights of criminal defendants.
Thus it appears to be far too early to determine whether the ideologically divided court will become more conservative or more liberal if and when Judge ‘ O’Connor fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Potter Stewart, who has been viewed as a moderate leaning to the conservative side of the court’s philosophical balance.
Attorney General William French Smith said Tuesday after President Reagan had announced Judge O’Connor as his choice to be the first woman to sit on the

Houston Post, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Woman nominated to high court

Houston Post, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON – In a historic decision, President Reagan Tuesday noml• nated Arizona appeals court Judge San• dra D. O’Connor to be the first woman justice of the Supreme Court – a selection lavishly praised by women’s organizations which frequently have been at odds with the president but condemned by some or his most conservative supporters. In personally making the announcement in the White House press room, Reagan praised the 51-year-old O’Connor as “truly a person ror all seasons, possessing those unique qualities or temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 ‘brethren’ who have preceded her.” If confirmed by the Senate, she would succeed newly retired Associate Justice Potter Stewart. Hers is the first Supreme Court nomination since 1975, when President Gerald Ford appointed Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, t and the first woman In the court’s 191 year history. Reagan will not formally send the nomination to the Senate until an FBI background check on O’Connor ls completed. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Strom Thurmond, RS.C., has not set a date for the confirmation hearings. They could come in the four weeks lert before the month-long August recess, or be delayed until September. The president wants the Senate to hold Its hearings and vote on the nomination by the first Monday in October, when the next Supreme Court term begins. O’Connor, a Republican who formerly ‘was majority leader

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

Tough issues ahead for Judge O’Connor

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

WASHINGTON (AP) – Although she proved herself-a scholarly and lucid writer in her short tenure on Arizona’s appeals court, Judge Sandra O’Connor never really faced the hot legal and constitutional issues of the day. An analysis of nearly all the opinions she’s written in 1½ years on the state bench shows that she dealt mainly with routine matters, such as workmen’s compensation and divorces. That means her supporters and detractors must look elsewhere for the views of President Reagan’s nominee to become the first female member of the Supreme Court – particularly in the areas of abortion and women’s rights. For some, that search already ls over.

Within hours of Tuesday’s announcement, the Moral Majority and the nation’s largest anti-abortion group announced they would oppose the nomination of · the Republican jurist. A spokesman for the National Right-to-Life Committee said the opposition would be based on stances O’Connor took as a member of the Arizona state Senate. But deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said O’Connor had told the president “she ls personally opposed to abortion and that it was especially abhorrent to her. She also feels the subject of the regulation of abortion is a legitimate subject for the legislative area.”

Although she declined to discuss “substantive issues” pending her confirmation, O’Connor told a news conference in Phoenix Tuesday she has special “appreciation for the legislative process.” That would square with Reagan’s insistence that

Editorial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Move over, Brethren!

Editorial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

The Uniied States Supreme Court, after 191 years and 101 male justices, apparently will join the mainstream of U;S. life with the appointment of Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Sandra Day O’Connor, the high court’s first woman justice. The breaching of the last male bastion in the federal government is as splendid as it is overdue. What’s really surprising is that the nation’s first woman justice has the backing of Ronald Reagan, a president whose party last year reversed 40 years of backing for an equal rights amendment. Reagan has been under fire recently for what even supporters admit is a dismal record of appointments: Only 42 women . among the 390 appointees that so far have required Senate confirmation. But, Reagan has a promising prospect. A graduate (along with Justice Rehnquist) of Stanford University Law School, O’Connor is thought a good lawyer, a scholarly writer and a superior jurisL She has an interest in the outdoors and a, background in civic and charitable causes. In his announcement of Judge O’Connor’s nomiria- . tion, President Reagan called her “a person for all seasons.” He noted that she possesses “those unique qualities of temperament, fairness and intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 ‘Brethren’ who have preceded her.” Reagan chose O’Connor despite pressures from groups who fear her approach to women’s rights’ issues. On the other hand, women’s groups such as the National Women’s Political Caucus cheered

Newspaper article, San Francisco Chronicle, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Judge O’Connor’s Days in Bay Area

Newspaper article, San Francisco Chronicle, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

California friends and schoolmates remembered Sandra Day O’Connor yesterday as a woman whose ability to excel in previously male-only or male-dominated institutions came naturally because of her intelligence, intensity and outgoing personality. According to many acquaintances from college days, her brilliant record as a student at Stanford University during the tumultuous years following World War II was a clear indication of the things to come later in her life. O’Connor. first woman majority leader of the Arizona Senate in modern times and the only woman member of the Arizona Court of Appeals, was nominated yesterday to be the first woman justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. “The thing I remember most about her,” said San Francisco Attorney Atherton Phleger, a Stanford classmate in the late 1940’s, “aside from her brilliance. was that you never thought of her as a woman because she never isolated herself in that way. “She was a complete person. interested in everything and not cloistered.” O’Connor completed her undergraduate degree in economics and graduated third in her law school class in two years at the age of 22. Some years later, she said she had never considered going anywhere else but Stanford, because that was the university her father had hoped to attend before he was forced take over the family farm after the death of his father. In 1946, O’Connor. the only girl in her Arizona high school class who went to college, arrived at Stanford. at the time. the school was

Houston Chronicle, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Supreme turnabout: New Right protests Reagan’s woman court nominee; liberals hail her

Houston Chronicle, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

President Reagan, in a break with 191 years of tradition, nominated Arizona state Court of Appeals Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Reaction to the Tuesday nomination, in fulfillment of a campaign promise by Reagan to llame a woman to one of the first vacancies on the nation’s highest court, was ironic: He was condemned by conservatives who have long sup- O’Connor ported him, but praised by liberals and feminists who have found little to commend in his administration. The Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of New Right lobby Moral Majority, said that the nomination was a “disaster.” The National Right to Life Committee, a major antiabortion group, pledged an all–0ut fight against her confirmation because of “her consistent support for legal abortion.” In contrast, the National Organization for Women hailed the nomination as a “victory for women’s rights.” Eleanor C. Smeal, president of the organization, contended that increasing political pressure from women’s groups and a drop in poll ratings among women had forced Reagan to the choice of Judge O’Connor. She rated the judge as “sensitive to women’s rights, a moderate on women’s rights.” In Phoenix, Ariz., Judge O’Connor said, “This is a momentous day in my life and the life of my family. I am extremely happy and honored to have been nominated by President Reagan for a position on . the U.S. Supreme Court. “If confirmed, I will do my best to serve

Asahi Newspaper (Japan), Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Amerika Saikosai ni josei hanji (Female judge at U.S. Supreme Court)

Asahi Newspaper (Japan), Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

米最高裁に女性判事 大統領公約果たす “保守派”ォコーナー夫人 【ワシントン七日ll小川特派員】レーガン米大統領は七日午前、全国テレビ会見で、さる三日引退したポッター.スチユアー卜 最高裁判事の後任にアリゾナ州高裁の女性判事サンドラ.D.オコーナー夫人(五一) を指名すると発表した。同大統領は昨十月の選挙演説でおこなった「最高裁判事に女性を任命する」との公約を果たしたわけだが、米最高裁に女性判事が任命されるのは百九十一年の最高裁史上これが初めてである。 オコーナー夫人は生まれたアリゾナ州で政治、司法の両分野で男性に劣らない手腕を発揮したと評価されている。比軟的柔軟な考えを持っているとされているが、レーガン大統頜好みの保守的傾向の裁判官だとされている。 レーガン大統頜は、同夫人に対する連邦捜査局(FBI)の調査が完了次第、この指名を上院に伝え、承認を求める。オコーナー夫人はスタンフォード大学の法学部大学院を五二年に卒業し、力リフォル二ア州のサンメテオ郡で次席検事を務めた。その後、アリゾナ州に庚り、六年間弁護士事務所を開業し、六五年から六九年までアリゾナ州の次長検事を務めた。六九年から七五年まではアリゾナ州上院議員に選ばれ、その間、多数派の共和党院内総務を務めた。州議会で女性が院内総務を務めたのは同夫人が全米で最初だった。七五年、オコーナー夫人は選挙でフェニックス市を含むアリゾナ州マリコパ郡上級裁判所判事に当選し、七九年に同州のラビッ卜知事が同夫人を同州高裁判事に任命し、現在に至っている。州上院議員時代は、米国で論議を呼んでいる人工中絶や男女平等憲法修正案に条件付きで賛成している。政洽思想的には、柔軟性のある保守派とされている。大学時代のクラスメートだった夫のジョン氏は弁護士。二人の間には三人の子息がいる。