Interview

Interview with Arizona Capitol Television

Interview / By

Unknown Speaker Thank you for joining us today I’m just honored to be sitting across from you interviewing you and to have you here with us. Sandra Day O’Connor You’re welcome. And I’m glad to be here. Unknown Speaker Most people already know that you paved the way for women by being the first woman on point to the US Supreme Court. But I think fewer people know that you also pave the way in Arizona by being the first woman, majority leader in any state senate. Right. In fact, there Sandra Day O’Connor there had been no woman, legislative leader in any post in across the country. And it was such a surprise to me when my colleagues voted in a closed ballot to select me as the majority leader. I was shocked. But it was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot. Unknown Speaker What would you say were some of the challenges that might have came along Sandra Day O’Connor with? Well, the challenges in those days was that it’s a small state Senate, they’re 32 members. And I was a Republican, and the republicans held a majority of one. So it was very challenging to work with that very narrow majority in the Republican Party. And what it meant was that for many pieces of legislation, in order to pass anything, we had to have support from the other side of the aisle. Luckily, it was a time in Arizona, when I don’t think the political feelings were as partisan as they seem to be at times today. And there were many says, When legislators from both parties would work together on legislation

Speech

Speech to the Texas State Senate on Alzheimer’s

Speech / By

Sandra Day O’Connor Lieutenant Governor do Hurst and members of the Texas Senate senator staffer, Amy, and all of you present here today, it is truly have a tremendous honor for me to be here and to have you extend this honor to me and give me a few minutes. I won’t take many to speak to you today. I know how tough it is to be in a state senate. When I was in the Arizona State Senate, as Majority Leader, we had a majority of one. So we had an ticklish time, trying to get support for some of the measures that we had. But we managed to get bipartisan agreement on many things. And it was very satisfying to work in the State Senate in those years. And I appreciate it back chance. And I appreciate the time chance to be here. You’ve already heard I have strong El Paso links. I went to Radford as a grade school and then off to Stephen F. Austin High School in El Paso, which is still bear, I visited it several times, and it hasn’t changed. But the student body has changed, if I think today predominantly Hispanic, and it was not when I attended Austin high, but it’s still a fine High School and much fun to visit. I was motivated to step down from the Supreme Court, when my husband who suffers from Alzheimer’s had reached the stage that he really needed full time care. And that happens over time. The progression of the disease varies from case to case and person to person. Probably another if you have family members or know someone who suffers from Alzheimer’s. So you know that the disease

Speech

Recorded remarks for the Eighth Annual Brigham Kanner Property Rights Conference in Beijing, China

Speech / By

Greetings. Let me begin by saying how much I regret that I’m not able to be with you to join you in attending the eighth annual Brigham can or property rights conference. It’s jointly sponsored by Ching Hua University School of Law, and William and Mary law school. And I’m very honored to have been chosen to receive the Bingham Kanner property rights prize at this special conference. It’s wonderful that this year’s conference and the property rights prize are being held in collaboration between these two wonderful law schools. Shanghai University, one of the oldest universities in Asia, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Now that’s even a little bit older than I am. And that’s saying quite a bit.

Now, one of China’s preeminent universities shame law has produced many prominent legal scholars, judges and lawyers, who are playing very important roles and the development of economic and social policy. William and Mary law school was the very first law school in the United States. It was founded in 1779. At the request of then Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, he wanted it for the purpose of training leaders for our new nation. The law school’s first professor was George Wythe. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and he was one of the most distinguished lawyers in 18th century America. William and Mary has a tradition of encouraging discussion about property rights, and other fundamental constitutional principles.

Interview, Radio appearance

Interview with Patt Morrison and Student Audience

Interview, Radio appearance / By

Unknown Speaker civic education is kind of going on the back burner. I have to get into a 13 year olds mine is have to make it kid friendly. Unknown Speaker One of the greatest challenges is getting the kids to connect Unknown Speaker to the past the present and the future. A lot of kids get turned off with history. They always tell me every year is all about dead people because old people in kind of voiceprint Unknown Speaker Social Studies is a good subject because you get to learn about your past in the future. Maybe that stuff can be used for something good. Like the amendment. They made them so long ago, and now they’re still using them because they work three Unknown Speaker of the Constitution was made as a whole different country because it listed many of our rights. we overlook it on everyday basis. Pat Morrison I’m Pat Morrison in the Crawford family forum. And those were the voices of students at Cesar Chavez middle school and Linwood North View High School in Covina, their teachers as well as we are here at a very special event. with former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor talking about civic education. How often in the movies or on the news, you hear someone say, I’m going to take that all the way to the Supreme Court. And yet of the three branches of government, people have some misunderstandings about all of them. And maybe the court in particular, the least understood or the most missed, understood. And because an informed citizenry is the basis

Interview

Interview with Soledad O’Brien at Chicago Ideas Week

Interview / By

Soledad O’Brien My name is Soledad O’Brien. And during my day job I am the anchor and special correspondent for CNN and on behalf of Chicago ideas week, I want to welcome you to our discussion, which focuses on education this afternoon. You can join the discussion by the way on twitter at hashtag CIW. edu. I will not feel offended at anytime if you whip out your blackberries or your iPhones or whatever you need to do, and tweet to your friends. We welcome it. This afternoon, we’re going to explore some of the biggest challenges some of the biggest problems that face our educational system in this country also want to talk about how we can identify them and maybe most importantly, is talk about how we can change them and define academic success. So we will begin right away with our very first speaker, Sandra Day O’Connor. I’m sure it’s someone you all know she is retired Associate Justice was the first female member of the United States Supreme Court nominated by President Reagan. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the court in 2006. Before her appointment, she was an elected official in Arizona. Recently, Justice O’Connor launched the I civics initiative, which was created to offer free civics lessons plans, and interactive video games for middle and high school educators. So please join me in welcoming our first speaker, Justice O’Connor. Sandra Day O’Connor Greetings, and thanks for the introduction. So Doug, I became interested in how

Interview

Interview at Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference

Interview / By

Jeff Curley
Thank you all for being here this morning, Sunday am St. Patrick’s Day weekends impressive show here in Chicago especially. My name is Jeff Curley. I’m co-founder of iCivics. And I have the pleasure of introducing Justice O’Connor this morning, and having a chance to have a question and answer with you all. Obviously, Justice O’Connor requires no introduction. So you can keep my remarks very brief and then let her take the floor. But Justice O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court,

Sandra Day O’Connor
but not the last.

Jeff Curley
Her incredible accomplishments are extraordinary particularly given the era in which she began her career. Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas. Now let’s see if we have any Arizonans here. She, she grew up on her family ranch the Lazy B In Arizona

Sandra Day O’Connor
And New Mexico. And New Mexico. Lots of places to call home. You know the ranch was within both states. Yes. And the only reason I got to El Paso was there wasn’t any town near the lazy be no hospital. I was the first child. My mother thought it would be good to have a hospital. So off we went to El Paso and I ended up going to school in El Paso. So, so all the things you hear today, that might be kind of crazy. It’s because I went to school male pastor.

Jeff Curley
Well, when she left El Paso in 1946 she was accepted at Stanford University, where she earned her bachelor’s

Interview

Sen. Leo Corbet oral history

Interview / By

Leo Corbet My name is Leo Corbet, L-E-O C-O-R-B-E-T. Today is February 9, 2015. That I am of sane mind and… O’Connor House (Laughs). That’s great, we know you are. Alright so, to get the ball rolling, tell us about the first time you met Sandra Day O’Connor.

Leo Corbet I’m trying, I’m having–

O’Connor House How did you meet her? Leo Corbet Well, I had known the family, her mother had played bridge with my aunt, as I’ve told you before, for a long, long time. I had gone to dinner with Alan and his girlfriend, later wife, and my aunt, but I never met Sandy.

And I met her the first day I was in the Senate, elected to the Senate. And I didn’t even, it didn’t dawn on me that she was part of that Harry Day group for I don’t know how long, probably a day or so until I got around and saw her. And then we get, we get, talked about things. I was born in Lordsburg, which is a town that’s close to her heart. And, you know, I don’t know. We just got started. She got, she was appointed to take a Senate seat, the, about six months before I first came down there.

O’Connor House And what year was that?

Leo Corbet That was 19…she was appointed in ’69 sometime, and I was elected in ’69 but I did, I took office in ’70, January of 1970. And so then, we, I met her at the first meeting, I suppose, of the legislature, of the caucus of the Republicans. And then, even then, we started having some people that were a little different network trend. They weren’t trying to do the job. They were

Interview

Steve Savage oral history

Interview / By

O’Connor House Tell us about the first time you met Sandra Day O’Connor. Steve Savage Well, the first time I met Sandra would have been through John, and I really can’t recall. It was either at a law firm function. I was at Fennemore Craig with John [inaudible] in 2003. And I honestly can’t remember. O’Connor House So tell us about the connection through John O’Connor. Tell us the story. Steve Savage Well, I was lucky to start with John, and professionally he was my mentor. I had about half of my work coming through John and Fennemore Craig and…this is 1973 until Sandra went to the Supreme Court, which was, what, eight years later? And John was a combination of business lawyer, litigator, real estate lawyer. In those days the firm was maybe 20 lawyers, and you did a little bit of everything. And John was competent at everything and always prepared. Always thinking in advance. He was a great mentor. So I would have met. I mean, the other part of mentoring with John was, he took great pains to introduce people, younger people to people in the community. He and Sandra brought young lawyers over to their house. John was active in Rotary. I went to several Rotary meetings with him on Fridays, the old Rotary Club in downtown Phoenix. And he was very committed to that, and he just was…He took care in getting younger people introduced in the community, as did Sandra. O’Connor House So did you ever go to the O’Connor House? Steve Savage I did. And I’ve, have vivid recollections

Letter

Letter announcing retirement from public life

Letter / By

Sandra Day O’Connor Phoenix, Arizona October 23, 2018

Friends and fellow Americans,

I want to share some personal news with you.

Some time ago, doctors diagnosed me with the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease. As this condition has progressed, I am no longer able to participate in public life. Since many people have asked about my current status and activities, I want to be open about these changes, and while I am still able, share some personal thoughts.

Not long after I retired from the Supreme Court twelve years ago, I made a commitment to myself, my family, and my country that I would use whatever years I had left to advance civic learning and engagement.

I feel so strongly about the topic because I’ve seen first-hand how vital it is for all citizens to understand our Constitution and unique system of government, and participate actively in their communities. It is through this shared understanding of who we are that we can follow the approaches that have served us best over time – working collaboratively together in communities and in government to solve problems, putting country and the common good above party and self-interest, and holding our key governmental institutions accountable.

Eight years ago, I started iCivics for just this purpose – to teach the core principles of civics to middle and high school students with free online interactive games and curriculum that make learning relevant and remarkably effective. Today, iCivics

Speech

Commencement address for Washington College of Law

Speech / By

President Ladner and Dean Grossman, and faculty graduates and friends of Washington School of Law. What a special day. This is for all of you graduates of the American universities, Washington College of Law, and for your families who helped you to reach this day and this moment, it has taken each of you at least three years and perhaps considerably more of law school studies to enable you to obtain your law degree today. You will have no more lectures and exams to endure.

And the faculty will no longer have you to endure. You will presumably begin to use your legal training in a variety of ways. Someone private practice, summon the public sector, summon business or a non legal pursues, but your thought processes, the way you approach and analyze problems is now forever changed. You’ve learned to break down complex issues into their component parts, and to look at them with some detachment and objectivity. You’ve learned how and where to try to find some answers. These are not insignificant achievements.

Now, it’s a special day for me as well. This law school, as you know, was founded 103 years ago, in 1896, 24 years before women had the right to vote. Founded by two determined women, Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma Gillett. Its first students first read, we’re women. Since its beginning, the Washington College of Law has valued the role that women as well as men play as lawyers in our society. It has provided strong clinical programs to give students hands-on experience, helping those