Letter to the editor, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
Praises O’Connor
All of Arizona should be very proud of President Reagan’s choice of Judge Sandra O’Connor for the position of associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge O’Connor is the first woman so selected and she is from Arizona, but this selection is more importantly of a person whose intelligence, integrity and judicial capability is not dependent on her sex. A qualified person has been selected for a position that can only be enhanced by the demonstrated qualities of the candidate. The president is demonstrating what has made America great. -We are strong and great because we find the right person at the right time. Advancemen t is spurred by the many single-minded and vocal pressure groups , but people like Judge O’Connor demonstrate the courage and intelligence that stabilizes Amer• ica so that our advances can be real and lasting. Let us take pride and joy as Arizonans, as people, as American citizens, that again we have found the right person. MARILOU COY Phoenix
Praise from Colleagues: Judges laud O’Connor
It didn’t taken Sandra O’Connor long to make a good Impression on her colleagues. In the 18 months she sat on the , Arizona Court of Appeals, she won the respect of her male colleagues, who , showered her with praise when her , name was mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee. “She has a razor-sharp mind which, combined with a steady temperament , makes her well-suited for the tough questions that would be presented to a U.S. Supreme Court justice,” said Appeals Court Judge Donald Froeb. President Reagan today broke two centuries of male exclusivity by naming Mrs. O’Connor to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart. Mrs. O’Connor, 51, is a former Republican state legislator and superior court judge. She was appointed to the state appeals court in December, 1979. A leader in Arizona GOP politics, she was co-chair of the state commit – tee to re-elect Richard Nixon in 1972. “From a judicial standpoint, I personally like her conservative approach to resolving issues before us,” said Appeals Court Judge Laurence T. Wren. But despite that conservative tag, her record in the Arizona legislative reflected a more liberal stand on women’s issues. In 1974, she sponsored a bill to present the Equal Rights Amendments to an advisory referendum. However, that proposal died in committee. Also that year, she was among nine senators who opposed a bill that would have forbidden abortions at the University Hospital in Tucson, Ariz., unless the mother’s life was endangered . She first was
Powell, O’Connor richest justices
WASHINGTON (UPI) – Multimillionaire Justice Lewis Powell is the richest mem her of the Supreme Court, followed by Sandra Day O’Connor and Chief Justice Warren Burger, financial reports show. Powell is at least three times wealthier than either O’Connor or Burger, who are probable millionair.es themselves, the annual report on the justices’ finances disclosed Monday. • Rut millionaires are in the minority on the bench. At least a half-million dollars down the financial ladder are the other six justices, who supplement their $96,700 salaries with modest to substantial amounts of interest and dividends. At the bottom of the list is Thurgood Marshall, the only black on the court. The annual reports, which are reqoired under the Ethics in Goverment Act, showed no dramatic jumps or declines in the justices’ financial affairs compared to last , year . . Powell, 75, handily clung to his status as the high tribunal’s weal- ‘:’: thiest member, listing assets of …. between $2.6 million and $5.7 million for 1982, including property and .several family trusts. O’Connor, 53, and her lawyer husband reported 1982 assets of at -. least $876,000 and possibly more than $1.66 million, with investment . income ranging from $36,200 to a maximum of $117,000. O’Connor, who became the first woman on the high court in 1981, reported receiving a $350 gift of a “family quilt,” and both she and her husband invested at least $1,000 each in tax-deferred individual retirement accounts. Burger, 75, reported
Arizona Daily Star, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
Politics makes familiar bedfellows in Washington
WASHINGTON – At the age of 51, John J. O’Connor 3d found himself looking for a job. His wife, Sandra Day O’Connor, had been appointed to the Supreme Court, a lifetime job, and unless he planned to spend the rest of his days commuting back to Phoenix where he was a partner in a prestigious corporate law firm, it meant relocating.
Eight years ago John W. Schroeder, a Denver lawyer, faced a similar decision. But his wife did not have lifetime tenure. Patricia Schroeder had been elected to the House of Representatives and their future beyond the two-year term was a question mark.
Mr. O’Connor and Mr. Schroeder are two members of a growing Washington breed: political husbands. As a result of their wives’ election or appointment to office, they face the same problems that political wives have endured for years. Beyond the obvious disruptions of moving a household, finding new schools for the children and confronting career changes, there is the subtle and sensitive problem of suddenly taking second place behind a woman who has instant name recognition and upon whom attention is lavished. It helps to have a strong ego.
Making the Move
”There was really no alternative but to move to Washington,” Mr. Schroeder recalled. ”Our son, Scott, was 6, and our little girl was still in diapers, so it just wasn’t possible to think about trying to live in both cities.”
He turned his caseload over to his Denver partners, flew east on a weekend to buy a Washington home, and after his wife got
Los Angeles Times, Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection
Picks Arizona Judge, Sandra Day O’Connor
WASHINGTON -President Reagan announced Tuesday that he will nominate Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, the first woman to be chosen for the nation’s highest tribunal in its 191-year history. Reagan described the 51-year-old jurist, former state legislator and Republican activist as “truly a person for all seasons” who possesses the “unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 (Supreme Court) brethren who have preceded her.” in selecting O’Connor, the President fulfilled a promise. he made during the 1980 presidential election campaign-to appoint a woman to the court. In doing so, he won the praise of women’s groups that. have opposed many of his policies. But his choice drew the wrath of some conservatives and anti-abortion. The public’s view of women on the bench has changed sharply over the years. Story, Page 5. lion groups, which vowed to fight O’Connor’s confirmation by the Senate because of what they consider to be her pro-abortion votes as an Arizona legislator. White House spokesman Larry Speakes, however, reported that O’Connor had told the President when he interviewed her in the Oval Office last tednesd~y that “she is personally opposed to abor- .. lion and it is especially abhorrent to her.” , White House deputy chief of staff Michael K. Deaver, who sat in on . the presidential interview, said Reagan was particularly impressed by O’Connor as
Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, The Washington Post
Personalities
Supreme Court J ustice Sandr a Day O’Connor received a new addition to her wardrobe this week. The chemise in question is a T -shirt depicting one woman justice and her eight male colleagues. T he capt ion under the group reads: “One down, eight to go.” Thirty students at the Woman’s Law Caucus of Northern Kent ucky University’s Chase Law School sent the i,hirt to O’Connor. In reply, she wrote, “The T-shirt is terrific. Forgive me if I don’t wear it around my colleagues just yet, but it will be nice to get some female companions m the future.”