Houston Chronicle, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Goldwater vows fight for O’Connor

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

Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, for more than two decades a darling of Republican conservatives, has warned anti-abortionists and fundamentalist religious groups that he is ready to fight them to help win Senate confirmation of Sandra D. O’Connor as a Supreme Court justice. Judge O’Connor is an appellate judge in Goldwater’s home district. Goldwater, angered by opposition to President Reagan’s choice from anti-abortion groups and especially by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority, said Wednesday, “I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the-.” Goldwater, who is of Jewish ancestry and an Episcopalian, said anyone who wants to fight Judge O’Connor’s confirmation will have to fight him. “You could offer the Lord’s name for some of these position and you’d find some of these outfits objecting even to him being appointed to anything,” said Goldwater. ” I don’t buy this idea that a justice of the Supreme Court has to stand for this, that or the other thing. And I’m getting a little tired of people in this country raising hell because they don’t happen to subscribe to every thought that person has ” I am probably one of tlie most conservative members of the Congress and I don’t like to get kicked around by people who call themselves conservatives on a non-conservative matter. It is a question of who is best for the court. “If it’s going to take a fight, they’re going to find old Goldy fighting like hell.” The Senate was in recess when Reagan

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, The Washington Post

Judge O’Connor’s Bravura Stirs a Throb in Conservative Hearts

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

Just getting through it without mishap was impressive enough: the’ , first woman Supreme Court nomi-, nee, a relatively obscure mid-level, state judge, sitting alone at the witness table in a packed hearing room in Washington, answering questions on live television, everyone waiting for her to flinch. Of Supreme Court nominees, however, more than that is expected. To those conservatives who wondered News Analysis • whether Sandra D. O’Connor was a conservative with the heart of a liberal, last week’s confirmation hearings should be reassuring. To the extent that she would talk about her personal views on issues, she talked conservatively. She favors the death penalty. She is openminded on preventive detention. She, opposes “forced busing.” She thinks the federal courts have overpowered the states and she finds abortion “abhorrent,” though not sufficiently abhorrent to please the National’ Right to Life Committee. To those concerned about how well a short-tenured state judge understood federal law, she was dazzling, offering the Senate Judiciary Committee a two-day cram course in recent Supreme Court rulings. Reporters waiting for her to get one wrong, or at least provide the wrong citation, are still waiting. Her performance as a politician was masterful. She knew each senator’s pet project on the committee and could congratulate them on network television for their “fine work” in seeking solutions to the crime problem or the problem of caseload backlogs in the federal courts.

Arizona Republic, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Justice O’Connor first to question lawyers in sex-discrimination case

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

United Press International
WASHINGTON – Justice Sandra O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, was the first to questton attorneys Wednesday in a sex-discrimination case of intense interest to women’s rights advocates. The case, brought by two Connecticut school boards, tests the government’s powers to police the job practices of schools and colleges that receive federal funds and to cut off funding if sex discrimination is found. The chief point of controversy is whether Congress intended for the Department of Education to use its rules to weed out sex discrimination in the field of employment practices. In appealing a ruling that allows the government to act against them for allegedly discriminating against two female employees, the North Haven and Trumbull boards of education contend that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 never was meant to apply to faculty, administrators and 1 teachers but only to students. They say the agency went beyond its authority in , adopting regulations covering employment and the rules should be declared invalid. Representing the government, Solicitor General Rex Lee defended the regulations as they apply to employment. But he also made a significant concession. Lee indicated that the Justice Department now ] acknowledges that Title IX cannot be applied as broadly as women’s rights groups might have liked. Retreating from a position held under the Carter administration, Lee said it is agreed the law can be used to penalize only

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, The New York Times

Reagan Nominating Woman, An Arizona Appeals Judge, To Serve On Supreme Court

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, The New York Times / By

REACTION IS MIXED
Senate Seems Favorable but Opposition Arises on Abortion Stands

WASHINGTON, July 7 – President Reagan announced today that he would nominate Sandra Day O’Connor, a 51-year-old judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, to the United States Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would become the first woman to serve on the Court.
”She is truly a ‘person for all seasons,’ ” Mr. Reagan said this morning, ”possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual Remarks on Court post, page A12. capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 ‘brethren’ who have preceded her.”
White House and Justice Department officials expressed confidence that Judge O’Connor’s views were compatible with those espoused over the years by Mr. Reagan, who has been highly critical of some past Supreme Court decisions on the rights of defendants, busing, abortion and other matters.
Some Quick Opposition
From the initial reaction in the Senate, it appeared her nomination would be approved. However, her record of favoring the proposed Federal equal rights amendment and having sided once against antiabortion interests while she was a legislator provoked immediate opposition to her confirmation by the National Right to Life Committee, Moral Majority and other groups opposed to abortion.
At a brief news conference in Phoenix, Judge O’Connor declined to explain her views, saying that she intended to leave such matters to her confirmation hearings before

Newspaper article, Scottsdale Daily Progress, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Reagan nominates O’Connor to Supreme Court

Newspaper article, Scottsdale Daily Progress, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

President Reagan this week named Arizona Appeals Court Judge Sandra D. O’Connor to become the first woman justice in the 191 years of the Supreme Court. O’Connor, 51, a Paradise Valley resident, would fill the vacancy created by Justice Potter Stewart’s retirement. The nomination was saluted by the National Organization of Women and the National Women’s Political Caucus. But opposition brewed among the far right. Some conservatives object to her support, as a state senator several years ago, for a measure legalizing abortion, and for another which would have submitted the Equal Rights Amendment to Arizona’s voters. Reagan said he was completely satisfied with Judge O’Connor’s record on right to life issues. Deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said she had told the president “she is personally opposed to abortion and that it was especially abhorent to her. She also feels the subject of the regulation of abortion is a legitimate subject for the legislative area.” Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, RTenn., joined with Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, RAriz., in defending O’Connor’s abortion record. Baker said she had never supported the concept of abortion on demand, and predicted the conservative attacks would not stand in the way of her confirmation. Goldwater, in a Senate speech, labeled the conservative criticism “a lot of foolish claptrap” from “people who do not know what they are talking about.”

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

Reagan Nominates a Woman to Serve on the Supreme Court

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

ombined News Services Washington-President Reagan, a break with 191 years of tradition, yesterday ~ominated Judge Sandra Day O’Connor of the Arizona Court of Appeals to be the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. The nomination, in fulfillment of a campaign promise to name a woman to one of the first vacancies on the nation’s highest court, was hailed by women’s groups. But it also drew immediate fire from some of the President’s conservative allies, including the politically potent Moral Majority, which says O’Connor has taken stands favoring abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment. Calling the 51-year-old O’Connor “a person for all seasons,” Reagan brushed aside the criticisms of antiabortion groups, some of which plan a campaign against her confirma-. ,tion. “I am completely satisfied with her,” a smiling Reagan said as he announced her appointment in the White House press briefing room. Reagan urged the Senate to give “swift bipartisan confirmation” to her “so that, as soon as possible, she may take her seat on the court and her place in history.” Early reaction from the Senate indicated that her confirmation would be easy. Attorney General William French Smith said he hoped the FBI checks on O’Connor could be completed so that the actual nomina: tion could be sent to the Senate in less than four weeks. Referring to his campaign pledge to make one of his first Supreme Court appointments “the most qualified woman I could possibly find,” the” President said he was

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

Reagan Names Woman to the Supreme Court

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

President Reagan yesterday nominated Sandra Day O’Connor, a 51-year-old judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, to the United States Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would become the first woman to serve on the court. She also would be the first justice in 25 years to have experience in a state court system. Every person appointed since Justice William J. Brennan Jr. in 1956 has come from the same national channels: a federal judgeship, a federal government job in Washington, or a nationally prominent law firm. “She is truly a ‘person for all seasons.’ ” Reagan said, “possessing those unique qualities of temperament. fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 ‘brethren’ who have preceded her.” White House and Justice Department officials expressed confidence that O’Connor’s views are compatible with those espoused over the years by Reagan, who has been highly critical of past Supreme Court decisions on the rights of defendants, busing, abortion and other matters. However, her record of favoring the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as her record on the abortion issue, provoked opposition to her confirmation by the National Right to Life Committee and the Moral Majority. Reagan, who is opposed to abortion, said in response to a question that he was “completely satisfied” with O’Connor’s position on that issue. O’Connor was appointed I to Arizona’s second-highest court in 1979 by Governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, after five years