Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Anti-abortion Scottsdale doctor urges rejecting Judge O’Connor

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON – A doctor from Scottsdale on Friday reluctantly opposed the nomination of Sandra O’Connor as the first woman justice of the U.S. Supreme Court because Judge O’Connor refused to declare her unqualified support for the anti -abortion movement dUl’ing Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. Dr. Carolyn Gerster, co-founder of the Arizona Right to Life Committee, told the panel on its final day of hearings into the nomination that she regrets having to oppose Judge O’Connor, whom she has known since the early 1970s. Dr. Gerster, herself a successful woman in a maledominated profession, said, “I believe the nomination of a woman to the Supreme Court is about 200 years overdue. I wish with all my heart that I could support this nominee from Arizona.” She praised the judge and former Arizona state senator as “a highly intelligent, dedicated, capable and likable person.” But she opposed the nomination because she is not satisfied that Judge O’Connor, whose three days of testimony ended Friday, fully has repudiated certain pro-abortion votes she cast while a member of the Arizona Legislature from 1969 to 1975. At the conclusion of the hearing, Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., reiterated his confidence that Judge O’Connor will be confirmed overwhelmingly by the full Senate. But he backtracked from earlier predictions that the confirmation will come as soon as next week. Thurmond said the Judiciary Committee will meet Tuesday to consider the nomination, but he noted

Newspaper article, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Anti-Abortionists to Oppose O’Connor

Newspaper article, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON – The Moral Majority and the nation’s largest anti-abortion organization said today they would seek to block Senate confirmation of Arizona Court Of Appeals Judge Sandra D. O’Connor as a Supreme Court justice because of her views on abortion. “Sandra O’Connor had a consistent and strong pro-abortion voting record while a senator in Arizona,” said Dr. J.C. Wilkie, president of the National Right -to-Life Committee. President Reagan, in announcing Mrs. O’Connor’s nomination, said he was completely satisfied with her record on right-to-life issues. He did not elaborate. WILKIE AND Richard Viguerie, publisher of the Conservative Digest, spoke bitterly of Reagan’s choice, charging that the president had ignored the pledge of the Republican 1980 platform to name judges “who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.” Douglas Badger, a lobbyist for the Christian Action Council, a Protestant group that opposes abortion, explained the opposition to Mrs. O’Connor by citing three votes which he said she cast in the Arizona Senate. Badger said that in 1970 – before the Supreme Court ‘s 1973 abortion decision – she voted for a bill that would have legalized abortions in Arizona under certain circumstances. He was unable to detail those circumstances. THEN IN 197 4, he said, she voted in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the Republican caucus against a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to outlaw abortions. Also in 1974,

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Anti-Abortionists only apparent foes of Judge O’Connor as hearing starts

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON – Anti-abortion lobbyists ap• _pear to be the only ones opposing Senate confirmation of Sandra O’Connor of Phoenix as the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee today begins a •Ulree-day hearing on President Reagan’s nominaton M Judge O’Connor to succeed Justice Potter :S~;who retired July 3. , The hearings will. be televised on KAET, Channel 8, beginning at 7 p.m. today, Thursday and Friday. Several ardent opponents of legalized abortion are scheduled to appear before the 18-member committee to speak against Judge O’Connor’s confirmation. The~ base their opposition largely on the belief that her voting record in the Arizona Senate from 1969 to 1975 does not establish unequivocal support for the right-to-life movement. Political observers, however, expect their testi• mony fo have little influence on the committee’s vote. “I am not aware of any senator who has firmly planted his foot and said he is not going to vote for her,” said Bob Maynes, a spokesman for Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., a Judiciary Committee member. Maynes said the lobbyists who oppose Judge O’Conner seem to be misinterpreting her public record on the abortion issue. ”She; has said many times that she is personally opposed to abortion,” he said. “What she will not do, understandably, is commit herself in advance on hypothetical questions about what she would do if such.and-such a case came before the Supreme Court, and that’s apparently what has some people

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Anti-abortionists gather to oppose Judge O’Connor

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

DALLAS – Anti-abortion leaders urged Thursday that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor remove herself from consideration or that President Reagan withdraw her name before Senate confirmation hearings begin next week. Nellie Gray of March for Life assailed Judge O’Connor ‘s nomination at a news conference beginning a 12- hour rally by a coalition of conservative Christians. She called the upcoming confirmation process for the former Arizona legislator “fatally flawed.” Miss Gray said that if Reagan and Judge O’Connor ignore her group’s d~~ds , “The Senate should recog01ze 1~ duty as an advising and consentmg_ body to bring the import.ant questions abeut the nomination before the hearings and to get the full facts before the Senate .” …

Los Angeles Times, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Conservative Role Indicated by O’Connor

Los Angeles Times, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON-Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor served notice Thursday that she is likely to take conservative positions at the high court on important issues of criminal law. During the second day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, O’Connor criticized what she called some “unfortunate” effects of the exclusionary rule-the principle that requires judges to exclude evidence from criminal trials if it has been obtained illegally by the police.

Stewart Took Liberal Approach

The nominee also reaffirmed her support as an Arizona legislator of the death penalty and of’ efforts to clamp down on the distribution of pornographic material. Retired Justice Potter Stewart, whom O’Connor is slated to replace, took a liberal approach in obscenity cases and generally resisted attempts at the high court to limit the scope of the exclusionary rule. O’Connor’s testimony suggests that her appointment may give new impetus to efforts to lift some legal constraints on law enforcement officials. By Thursday night, with her own testimony before the Judiciary Committee nearly complete, O’Connor’s confirmation seemed all but assured. Several members of the committee, including such leading conservatives as Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), assured O’Connor they will vote for her. At a time when President Reagan is scoring high in public opinion polls, and with O’Connor herself apparently a popular choice, most of the senators held back from any tough give-and-take with

Newspaper article, Tempe Daily News, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Conservative Forces vow to fight against O’Connor

Newspaper article, Tempe Daily News, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

Sandra Day O’Connor will face painstaking scrutiny of her record as a state legislator and judge at confirmation hearings this week on her nomination as the Supreme Court’s first woman justice. Conservative forces that want President Reagan to withdraw the nomination of the Arizona appeals court judge have deluged the Senate Judiciary Committee with about 20,000 pieces of mail – mostly form letters – running 4-to-1 against her. But Senate leaders have predicted her confirmation, perhaps without dissent, because no senators are on record opposing her. This has not discouraged abortion foes, who contend that they will use the hearings as a forwn to show Reagan he “should never insult his friends again.” “No observer of this fight – and it is a fight – should judge by the final number of votes,” said Peter Gemma Jr. of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee. O’Connor’s nomination is a “complete break of faith in light of the promises in the Republican platform,” which endorses “pro-life” judges, said Conservative Caucus head Boward Phillips . “Our duty is to keep faith with the unborn – even if we don’t get a single senator’s vote,” Phillips added. Sure to be aired at the hearings, which begin Wednesday, are data on her votes on state abortion bills-votes that are “consistenUy anti-life,” abor- . tion forces charge. . Also, the conservative groups claim O’Connor is too soft on crime, too liberal on women’s issues and has ignored conflicts of interest in voting on areas

Arizona Republic, Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Conservative Arizona lawmaker backs Judge O’Connor

Arizona Republic, Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

Rep. Donna Carlson West, R-Mesa, an ardent opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment and a pro-life advocate, threw her support Friday behind Judge Sandra O’Connor, a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, R-Tenn., Rep . Carlson W~t laid she was deeply distressed by opposition to the Arizona Court of Appeals judge’s historic nomination. “I have known Sandra for many years, as a member of the Legislature and member of the judiciary,” Mrs: Carlson West said, “and I am convinced that there is nothing in her record in either capacity that warrants the many unfounded, untrue charges that are being raised in opposition to her nomination as the first woman justice of the Supreme Court.” She conceded that Mrs. O’Connor and two other conservative women legislators had introduced a resolution to ratify the ERA in Arizona. But many legislators and states have changed their minds on ERA since Congress passed it in 1972, Rep. Carlson West said. On the abortion issue, Judge O’Connor cast couple of votes as a legislator with which R Carlson West said she disagreed, “but I do kno that she is personally opposed to abortion.” Rep. Carlson West, immediate past chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council. national organization of conservative legislator labeled as “untrue” allegations that Judge O’Connor is “pro-gun control, anti-religion and anti-capital punishment.”

Eastern Arizona Courier, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Confirmation hearings begin

Eastern Arizona Courier, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

TRI-COUNTY: Gavel to gavel coverage of the Sandra O’Connor senate confirmation hearings will be broadcast on KAET/Channel 8, Sept 9, 10 and 11 beginning at 7 p.m. KAET, the public television affiliate in Phoenix, is producing the coverage on an exclusive basis for the Arizona market and will also transmit the program via the Westar I satellite to all public television stations and their affiliated cable channels. Sandra Day O’Connor, who spent her young years on her parents Lazy B Ranch southeast of Duncan and is now a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, is the first woman nominated for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. This makes the upcoming telecast especially interesting for people of eastern Arizona as well as the state as a whole The nominee will questioned by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Strom Thurmond (R, South Carolina ). Other Republican members of the committee include Paul Laxalt of Nevada, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Robert Dole of Kansas and Charles Mathias of Maryland . Democratic committee members include Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts , Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio and Dennis DeConcin i of Arizona. Witnesses will not question Judge O’Connor, but will read prepared statements. As of last Frid ay, the list of witnesses had not been confirmed, but it is expected that Senator Barry Goldwater would appear as a witness . While the confirmation of O’Connor appears to be a foregone conclusion, there is

Letter to the editor, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Compliments O’Connor

Letter to the editor, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

If Judge Sandra O’Connor is confirmed by the United States Senate as the first woman on the Supreme Court, she will go down in history as one of our most esteemed pioneers. We may even find her picture on a postage stamp someday. And to hear all the babble of nit-picking that is arising makes one wonder if even the motives of heaven would be questioned and subjected to the third degree. Mrs. O’Connor is a credit to the women of America. She is an example of that rare womankind who can carry a pitcher of water on both shoulders, an excellent mother, an excellent lawyer and a compassionate and brilliant human-being who has arisen to the height.a of awesome honor. Isn’t it about time that we look at personal integrity in out officials and have faith in their judgment instead of gagging on gnat.a and swallowing elephant.a? May we have more of Sandra O’Connor and her kind! CHARLOTTE ELDRIDGE SUTTER, Phoenix