Radio appearance

“O’Connor Decries Republican Attacks on Courts”

Radio appearance / By

Newly retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor took on conservative Republican critics of the courts in a speech Thursday. She told an audience at Georgetown University that Republican proposals, and their sometimes uncivil tone, pose a danger to the independence of the judiciary, and the freedoms of all Americans.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Supreme Court justices keep many opinions private, but Sandra Day O’Connor no longer faces that obligation. Yesterday, the retired justice criticized Republicans who criticized the courts. She said they challenged the independence of judges and the freedoms of all Americans.

O’Connor’s speech at Georgetown University was not available for broadcast, but NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg was there.

NINA TOTENBERG reporting:

In an unusually forceful and forthright speech, O’Connor said that attacks on the Judiciary by some Republican leaders pose a direct threat to our Constitutional freedom. O’Connor began by conceding that courts do have the power to make presidents, or the Congress, or governors, as she put it, really, really angry.

But, she continued, if we don’t make them mad some of the time, we probably aren’t doing our jobs as judges. And our effectiveness, she said, is premised on the notion that we won’t be subject to retaliation for our judicial acts. The nation’s founders wrote repeatedly, she said, that without an independent Judiciary to protect individual rights from the other branches of government, those

Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

O’Connor confirmation by Senate likely Friday

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WASHINGTON (AP ) – Sandra Day O’Connor , pas sing the first test with no one against her, is just one vote away from taking her plac e among eight men on the Supreme Court . That should be out of the way by the end of the week . The Senat e Judicia r y Committee recomm ended Tuesday that the full Senate confi rm the 51-ye ar -old Arizona appeals court judge to succeed retired Justice Pott er Stewart. The vote was 17-0, with one lead ing anti- abortion senator supportin g Mrs. O’Connor and another abstaining. Sen . Strom Thurmond , RS. C., th e com m itt ee chair man, sai d he would attempt to schedule the final vote in th e Se nate for Frid ay, allowing her to be sworn in Sept. 25 in time for th e court ‘s fall se ssion starting Oct. 5. The onl y committ ee member who didn’t vote for Mrs. O’Connor was Alaba ma Rep ubli ca n J ere m iah Denton. He voted ” present,” saying he did not know enough about her views on abortion or other “great lega l issues of the day” to either support or oppose her . “I appreciate his point of view,” Mrs . O’Connor said after wa rd . Aides to Denton said he has not yet decided if he will cast an identic al vote when the nominatien comes to the Senate floor. If Denton votes yes, Mrs . O’Connor ‘ s confirmation could be unanim ous . Tuesday’ s committee vote reflected Mrs. O’Connor’ s support from conservative s and liberals alike . .

Magazine article

“O’Connor and Her Clerk”

Magazine article / By

On Monday, the President nominated two candidates to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is often described as the second most important court in the nation. (Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Ginsburg all served on the D.C. Circuit before being named to the Supreme Court.) They are Caitlin Halligan, a New York prosecutor, and Srikanth Srinivasan, currently the principal deputy solicitor general. Halligan was nominated previously, and Republicans prevented her from receiving an up-or-down vote. This is the first time around for Srinivasan, and the White House has recruited a high-profile surrogate to speak on his behalf.

“It’s a wonderful choice,” Sandra Day O’Connor told me in a telephone interview this afternoon. “I’m sure he would be a good appellate court judge.” Srinivasan, who is known as Sri, clerked for O’Connor on the Supreme Court in the 1997-98 term, and has since shuttled between private practice at O’Melveny & Myers and stints in the solicitor general’s office. “I just remember him as being a very skilled, intellectually gifted clerk,” O’Connor said. At this point in his term, President Obama has left only a modest imprint on the lower federal courts. Persistent opposition by Republicans in the Senate (often in the form of filibusters) has pushed Obama well behind the pace of Presidents George W. Bush and Clinton for confirmations of judges he’s named. Obama’s own slow pace in making nominations has played a part, too.

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Now It’s Madam Justice

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Reagan Appoints First Woman to U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON , D. C.- Next week (October 5) the U .S . Supreme Court will-for the first time-gain a woman ‘s touch . After 191 years and 101 male members, the Court is expected to welcome Sandra Day O’Connor as an Associate Justice. President Reagan has appointed her to take the place of Justice Potter Stewart , who retired . The President’ s nomination of Judge O’Connor , which came last July, fulfilled a campaign promise. But President Reagan made it clear that keeping the promise wasn’t his main reason for the appointment. “[I did not pledge] I would appoint a woman merely to do so,” he told reporters . ” Rather , I pledged to appoint a woman who meets the very high standards I demand of all Court appointees .” ‘Smart, Fair’ At the age of 5 I, Sandra O’Con – nor comes to the Supreme Court with a distinguished background . She grew up on her parents’ Lazy B ranch in Arizona but went to private school in El Paso, Tex . During summers, she says, she went back to the ranch and “fixed windmills and repaired fences .” At the age of 17 she entered Stanford University and graduated with honors . She finished Stanford Law School among the top ten in her class. Judge O’Connor was married shortly after graduating from law school to John Jay O’Connor, also a lawyer . They have three sons. From 1965 through 1968 she served as assistant attorney general of Arizona. Then she was elected to the state senate and became senate majority leader

Op ed, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Nominee doesn’t fit any mold

Op ed, The Kauffman-Henry Collection / By

WASHINGTON – Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, doesn’t fit easily into any mold. Though described by friends and associates as politically conservative, she has avoided ideological labels during almost six years as a state trial and appeals court judge in Arizona while winning widespread praise for her careful, concise and judicious approach to legal issues. AND DURING four years as Republican majority leader of the state Senate in the early 1970s, she took several liberal stands – particularly on women’s issues – that already have evoked angry opposition to her nomination from right-wing political groups. “A person for all seasons,” is the way President Reagan described this 51-year-old Arizonan in announcing he wanted her to break the 191-year, male-only tradition of the high court. That view was resoundingly and repeatedly echoed during interviews with some of the people who know Judge O’Connor best. “SANDRA IS NOT a crusader on any issue,” said William Jacquin, who heads the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and was president of the state Senate when Judge O’Connor was majority leader from 1971-1974. “One of her great attributes is that she faces each issue as a problem and then looks for the best possible solutions.” Robert Broomfield, presiding judge of the Maricopa County (Phoenix) Superior Court, where Judge O’Connor served from 1975 until she was named to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979, said “she believes in following the law.

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Mrs. O’Connor outlines her views

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WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor is sending out the word: she shares the views of many conservatives. But the Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to find out – even though most of its members appear eager to know – whether she would be a truly conserv.ative Supreme Court justice. As her confirmation proceedings entered what’s scheduled to be their final hours today, that question did not seem to matter. Ten of the committee’s 18 members have gone on the record as SUPporting Mrs. O’Connor’s nomination, and confirmation by the full Senate appears assured. In more than five hours of testimony yesterday, the first woman ever nominated to the nation’s highest’ court divulged these personal views: – She abhors abortion. – She thinks it “inappropriate” for women to participate in combat during war . – She opposes forced busing to achieve school desegregation. – She favors the death penalty for certain crimes. – She believes a 67-year-old legal doctrine that bars the use of evidence seized illegally by police may be adding to the nation’s crime rate a~d perhaps is being applied too stringently. – She favors a limited role for the nation’s courts. But, as she has since the Capitol Hill hearings began Wednesday, Mrs. O’Connor emphasized that her “personal views and philosophies” would not affect her Supreme Court votes. And she disavowed any hint that she will oe President Reagan’s conservative envoy to the court. “I was not asked to make any commitments about what

Newspaper article, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Mrs. O’Connor gets Senate panel’s OK

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Sandra Day O’Connor today won overwhelming approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee for her nomination to become the first woman on the Supreme Court. The vote was 17-0, with one member voting present. Sixteen senators voted to approve the nomination before Sens. Jeremiah Denton and John East withheld their votes while they made statements. East, R-N.C., then voted yes. Denton voted “present.” Denton, an Alabama Republican who had questioned Mrs. O’Connor at length about her views on abortion, has said he felt frustrated because he could not determine where Mrs. O’Connor was “coming from philosophically” on abortion.

Prior to today’s committee vote and action scheduled for tomorrow by the full Senate, court officials scheduled Mrs. O’Connor’s swearing-in ceremony for Sept. 25. The high court begins its fall session 10 days later, the first Monday in October.

If confirmed, Mrs. O’Connor would replace Justice Potter Stewart, who retired in July.

Mrs. O’Connor, a 51-year-old Arizona appeals court judge, quickly dispelled most conservative opposition to her nomination during three days of confirmation hearings last week. She told the hearings that she abhors abortion, but she refused to say how she might vote on an abortion case should one come before the court. She also declined to comment on her views of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. Mrs. O’Connor said a child should consult with her parents before she has an abortion, but she told the senators that

Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Motorists love personal plates

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LOS ANGELES – The police might never have arr ested Anthony Gordon for a motel robbery here if he had not ordered personalized liceme plates for his Corvette. They said: “IM EVIL.” A bystander at the robbery easily remembered the le~ters. Police quickly found Gordon’s car, the engine still warm. He became just one more victim of California’s great obsession, the personalized plate, an inadvertent aid to law enforcement, topic for sociologists and literary pastime for millions of summer vacationers traveling the highways. From JUEZA S h for female ud e on U.S. u reme o us c es1 e a n- ‘if s 1a Onu:=._~onaw1 o aa n omca’s illmd Corp., personalized plates have swept the Southwest, becoming one of the most visible signs of westerners’ unusual feelin~ about their automc>- biles and themselves. Every state now offers personalized plates to motorists who will pay an extra fee, but California has the greatest number and apparently the highest percentage by far. Tlrough June, California had issued 916,432 personalized plates, enough for nearly 7 per- , cent of the 13.2 million passenger cars in the state. The personalized plates have brought in several million dollars for a special state fund for anti-pollution and park projects, hence the term “environmental plates” for the personalized licenses here. They also forced the state motor vehicles department to install a complicated, computerized screening of objectionable plates. Officer Emanuel Padilla, a spokesman for the California

Newspaper mention, The Kauffman-Henry Collection

Moralist will skip hearing

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WASHINGTON Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority, will not testify Wednesday on the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor aa the first woman Supreme Court justice, his «Jganization said Fri- r’s appearance ends, an additional 25 people are scheduled to testify. The list includes a dhmber of anti-abortion groups, including the lfatior>:al Right to Life Oomm1ttee. • Among those support – the nomination will be representatives of the A):nerican Bar Associatton and the National Organization for Women. • From Arizona will ceme Gov. Bruce Babbitt and other legislators a,O.d public officials