"In the early days of when I got to the court, there wasn't a restroom I could use that was anywhere near that courtroom. On the lack of women's bathrooms at the Supreme Court when she arrived The term "swing vote," however, is not one she associates with herself and her tenure on the court. Gore, and sometimes with the liberals, as she did in upholding the McCain-Feingold campaign law and the use of affirmative action in college admissions. In a politically divided court, she often cast the swing vote, sometimes siding with the conservatives, as she did in Bush v. O'Connor - who has a new book about the history of the Supreme Court called Out of Order - was sworn in by Reagan on July 7, 1981, as the first female Supreme Court justice, replacing Justice Potter Stewart. Is that all right with you?' Well, now, that's kind of a shock, wouldn't you say?" President?' 'Sandra, I'd like to announce your nomination to the U.S. That was quite a shock, but I accepted the phone call, and it was President Reagan, and he said, 'Sandra?' 'Yes, Mr. And it was the White House calling for me, and I was told that the president was waiting to speak to me. "I was at the court in my chambers when the telephone rang. "I was working in my office on the Arizona Court of Appeals," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. Sandra Day O'Connor wasn't expecting the call from President Reagan that would change her life that day in 1981. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. I was blessed to be one of her clerks and, therefore, a part of her extended family.Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Out of Order Subtitle Stories From the History of the Supreme Court Author Sandra Day O'Connor Her clerks’ children even have a nickname: “SO’C Grandclerk,” which is emblazoned on T-shirts. She often asked about our families and made clerk reunions family events. She and her husband, John, had an active social calendar in Washington, and she was often on the phone with one of her sons when I would come into her office that year. She brought her own homemade Southwestern dishes for lunch on Saturdays before argument weeks when we would meet to discuss the cases. daily exercise class she organized in the building. We carved pumpkins for Halloween, visited the cherry blossoms in the spring, went to museums, and at least one clerk had to be the “exercise clerk,” who joined her for the 9 a.m. She imposed an ethos of the “full life” in her chambers. The business of the Court was only part of what SO’C expected of us. Justice O'Connor with Marci Hamilton’s two children, daughter Alex (left) and son Will. I went home to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for two days that year: Christmas and Easter.ĭespite the pressures, we were held to the highest levels of professionalism. She could not be bullied into changing her mind, though Lord knows that Justice Antonin Scalia tried I watched her rise above pettiness in her personal dealings with others as well as in her opinions for the Court. During the 1989 term, there were 129 full opinions of the Court, which more than doubles the number from the most recent term, and clerks routinely worked seven days each week. We even drafted her speeches, and she was the most-requested justice in that era. We were expected to produce high-quality research, certiorari pool memos, bench memos, and opinion drafts on time. The work ethic in SO’C’s chambers was intense. Her strength of character made her precisely the right person to be the “first.” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, or “SO’C,” as her clerks call her, was the first woman to join the United States Supreme Court and held that position with dignity. Marci Hamilton, (right) Fels Institute of Government Professor of Practice and CEO of CHILD USA, clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor from 1989 to 1990.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |