Newspaper mention, Phoenix Gazette, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Jill’s View Point

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

What impact will the appointment of Sandra O’Connor have on the Supreme Court? Asked in downtown Phoenix

Marty Bender, artist, Prescott. She’ll be a welcomed relief from all those other fuddy-duddies on the Supreme Court, that’s for sure. I think she’ll make a good justice. She said she’d interpret the laws, not make them and a woman’s opinion is needed on the Supreme Court. I don’t think that it’ll affect the passage of the ERA amendment one way or the other though.

Doug Jardine, written communications supervisor, Scottsdale. I would expect that Justice O’Connor would formulate her rulings on the basis of her profession rather than strictly as a woman. In fact, she might bend over backwards to show that being a woman won’t influence her decisions. Her appointment will benefit women and all Americans. Having a woman on the Supreme Court is long overdue.

Aletha Frazier, steno, Phoenix. Her appointment to the Supreme Court might open the eyes of the other justices to the fact that women are as capable as men. A woman’s opinion in a judicial situation is important and it’s time they realized that. I think she’ll help other women realize their potential too by showing them that they can hold responsible positions of authority. Bob Silverman, minerals company land man, Albuquerque, New Mexico. I don’t think there will be any great impact right away. Her views seem a little more liberal than the other Supreme Court justice from Arizona, William Rehnquist. I think Reagan’s appointment

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

In Senate hearing O’Connor defends abortion vote

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

WASHINGTON (AP) – Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Cormor said today she is opposed to abortion but that her personal views would not control her votes on the nation’s highest court. “My own view in the area of abortion is that I’m opposed to it,” O’Cormor told the Senate Judiciary Committee. But she emphasized her belief that judges should not let personal feelings dictate their decisions on constitutional issues. O’Connor, the first woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court, sought to explain and defend votes she cast while a member of the Arizona Senate from 1969 to 1975 which have been interpreted by political conservatives as “proabortion.” She portrayed those votes as not true reflections on abortion, itself, but on tangential legislative concerns. In response to other committee questions, O’Connor attempted to enhance her image as a judicial conservative. “I do well understand the difference between legislating and judging. . . . As a judge, it is not my function to develop social policy by means of making the law,” she said. O’Connor has been a state appeals court judge in Arizona since 1979, and was a state trial judge the previous four years. “I do not believe it is the function of the judiciary to step in and change the law because the times or social mores have changed,” she said. O’Connor promised the senators that, if confirmed as the 102nd member in the high court’s 191-year history, her job will be “one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it.” Keeping

Arizona Republic, Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Governor will host bash to honor Justice O’Connor

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

The hottest ticket in town next month is likely to be one for the shindig Gov. Bruce Babbitt is tossing for Supreme Court Justice Sandra O’Connor Nov. 25 at the Arizona Biltmore. About 2,000 invitations have been sent out for the black-tie gala, but only 850 can be accepted. It is a first-come, first-seated affair, and letters of regret have already been prepared for those not acting fast enough. Organizers of the banquet are privately hoping President Reagan sends regards only and stays m Washington for the holidays. The security arrangements for a presidential visit would toss a monkey wrench in the best-laid plans, which were hush-hush – until now, at least. The dinner will cap a daylong Phoenix and Arizona celebration honoring the first woman to serve on the high court. Plans are in the works for a ceremony in the state Capitol, where Justice O’Connor once served as a state senator, and a combined city of Phoenix and Junior League luncheon at the Lath House, which is next to the Rosson House in Heritage Square.

Editorial, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, Washington Star

Humbug?

Editorial, The Kauffman-Henry Collection, Washington Star / By

When Mount Goldwater erupts, the fallout of hot ash ( and hot air) is usually spectacular. It is also, in a way, refreshing . The senior senator from Arizona, once the doyen of the American conserva,tive movenment , is a great fan of Mrs. Sandra D. O’Connor, President Reagan’s Supreme <:ourt nominee. As such he is outraged by the clamor of antiabortionist fundamentalists against her. So Senator Goldwater tells us not only that the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Moral Majority, the leader of that clamor, should be "kicked in the ass" by all right-thinking Christians (a not uninviting idea), but that abortion is a "humbug issue" distracting Congress from more manageable matters. The senator isn't likely to have many takers on the latter proposition, although there is some practical sense in what he says. The abortion issue is legislatively intractable, and the grating moralism of the "social conservative" right and its drive to theocratize politics are both tiresome and threatening. But one reason they seem threatening , as the distinguished novelist Walker Percy has observed, is that in their outrage over pro• miscuous abortion the Falwells and tfleir allies prick the bad conscience of American society. When abortions begin to balance live births in certain jurisdictions, the state of the law needs re-examination. It does not need and, in our view will not profit from, the superficial re-examination envisaged in the so-called "human life" bill reported this week by the Hatch subcommittee

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

How O’Connor was selected

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

WASHING TON – Her name came up in “chit chat” a month ago but it was only after an int~rview in the Oval Office that President Reagan decided Sandra O’Connor was his choice for a vacancy on the Supreme Court, White House officials said yesterday. The process that led to the historic decision to name the first woman to the high court was affected by many factors, including the assassination attempt against the president. Also figuring in was Reagan’s campaign promise to name a woman to the high tribunal at one of his first opportunities, although aides insist the president was looking for – and fuund – the best qualified person to fill the vacancy. Since Reagan’s announ cement . that be will send O’Connor’s name to the Senate for confirmation, a picture has emerged of how the administration reacted to Justice Potter Stewart’s declaration that he would retire. The president made the final deci- sion Monday afternoon, culminating a process that began late in March, when Stewart informed Attorney General William French Smith that he planned to resign his seat on the bench at the end of the term. Smith told reporters yesterday that he began considering possible replacements the moment Stewart, 66, mentioned his plans. But he said be held off informing the president of the impending court vacancy because “we had a shooting problem” – the March 30 attempt on Reagan’s life.

Arizona Republic, Op ed, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Gun lobby has little to fear in O’Connor

Arizona Republic, Op ed, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

S andra O’Connor, President Reagan’s nominee to the Supreme Court, has won the endorse- _ ment of a couple of “gun lobby” groups in Yashington, but so far the National Rifle Association has been silentconcerning her nomination. For what it is worth, I am sure the NRA also a~proves_ of her _no~ination based on her record as a fm and unpartial Judge, one with the courage to be to~h _when toughness is called for, and her legislative record as a state senator. I was covering the state Senate during most of O’Connor’s service there, and I worked closely with her as a citizen on an important firearms bill. Th~t bill was described by the Washington lob~yists as measure “that would have made it easier for ArJZOna residents to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons.” That statement is 100 percent wrong. There never h~ been any such thing in Arizona as getting a permit to carry concealed weapons. In states w~e~e such pe~ts can be obtained, it seems that cnmmals sometimes wind up with permits easier than honest citizens. At my request – as a citizen who has worked for many years to see to it that Arizona has reasonable and enforceable firearms-control laws – O’Connor h_e~ped me rewrite state statutes to protect honest citizens from harassment or unwarranted arrest on concealed-weapons charges. We undertook to do that by detailing out in the law how firearms could be legally carried. During that period I learned a lot about O’Connor’s philosophy and character, because we debated the