It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was a long-time friend and supporter of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), who died today.
As part of the NCSC's Sandra Day O'Connor Award for the Advancement of Civics Education, Sandra O'Connor is delighted to recognize those who share her passion for civics education and play an active role in the selection of the award recipients.
Throughout her years as an Arizona state senator, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge, a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice O'Connor has always been renowned for her remarkable intellect and insatiable curiosity.
There is no doubt that Justice O'Connor's legacy as a jurist and an advocate for civics education will live on for generations to come, according to NCSC Board Chair and Conference of Chief Justices President Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, Chief Judge of the DC Court of Appeals.
In the course of the years, NCSC President Mary McQueen has spoken with Justice O'Connor several times about the state courts.
I would like to point out at our first meeting that the White opinion (Republican Party of Minnesota). Assume the following:. As McQueen explained to McQueen, "(White) and the political challenges facing an elected state judiciary were at the forefront of her concerns about state courts," she said.. "As a former state senator in Arizona, Justice O'Connor had devoted a significant amount of time, effort, and effort into developing and implementing a system of judicial merit selection in her home state". It was her major concern that campaign financing and partisan politics in rough-and-tumble judicial elections might have an adverse effect on judicial independence in the future
 It was her major concern that campaign financing and partisan politics in rough-and-tumble judicial elections might have an adverse effect on judicial independence in the future
As Justice O'Connor pointed out in her concurring opinion in White, "I agree with the opinion of the Court, but I write separately to express my concerns about judicial elections in general. In Minnesota, we have chosen to elect our judges through contested popular elections instead of through appointment or through a combination of appointment and retention elections.. As a result, the State has voluntarily taken on the risks of judicial bias as a result of this decision. Thus, it is particularly troubling that the State states that in order to protect the impartiality of the judiciary, it needs to significantly restrict the speech of judges. It is largely the State's fault that there is a problem with judicial impartiality in the State, a problem that it brought upon itself by continuing the practice of electing judges by popular vote
It is largely the State's fault that there is a problem with judicial impartiality in the State, a problem that it brought upon itself by continuing the practice of electing judges by popular vote
Despite the fact that her career took her to the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice O'Connor always took great pride in the fact that she began her judicial career at the state court level and worked her way up through the ranks.
In 1974, she was appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court, where she served from 1975 to 1979. She was then elevated to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979.. It was in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan nominated her to be a member of the US Supreme Court, that she spent two years on the appellate court. Court of Appeals. This is the Reverend. As a result of her support for Equal Rights Amendment and refusal to take a public position on abortion, Jerry Falwell and other conservatives opposed her nomination for the position, but she was eventually elected to the position.. Approval by the Senate of 99 to 0. It's (U). The Sentence. She was sent a copy of the novel A River Runs Through It by Max Baucus, a Democratic senator from Montana, who was absent from the Senate on that day, in an apology note and as a gift
She was sent a copy of the novel A River Runs Through It by Max Baucus, a Democratic senator from Montana, who was absent from the Senate on that day, in an apology note and as a gift
The fact that she was the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court will always be associated with her being on lists of the most powerful women in the world, and for good reason.. As a result of the fact that she often cast the swing vote in Supreme Court cases, she was considered by many to be the most powerful associate justice - male or female - during her tenure on the court. There was no swing vote that received more attention and scrutiny than her vote for Bush v. Gore. In the case of Gore, in which the Supreme Court halted the voting in Florida after the 2000 presidential election, ensuring President George W. Bush's victory in the presidential election. Bush
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Linda Greenhouse, a journalist who covered the U.S. Supreme Court for the past three decades, wrote an appreciation of Justice O'Connor that was published in a magazine. It is less important to me where she stands on the political spectrum of the court than how she got there. The answer, which is particularly pertinent today, is that she cared about the impact of the court's decisions on the law, as well as on the country as a whole. And she was willing to learn," she wrote.
Her husband, John, passed away in 2009, three months after she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Barack Obama, just after she retired to Arizona in 2006 to take care of him.
It was announced in October 2018 that she was retiring from public life. A year later, following the death of Justice John Paul Stevens, she became the last living justice to have served on the Burger Court, which we at NCSC find to be quite fitting. Our institution was founded by former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Justice O'Connor will remain forever associated with it.
Located in Williamsburg, Virginia, the National Center for State Courts is a nonprofit court organization which is committed to providing leadership and service to the state courts in order to improve the administration of justice. In 1971, NCSC was founded by the Conference of Chief Justices and the Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger to provide education, training, technology, management, and research to state courts throughout the nation.
Please contact Molly Justice, Director of Communications & Marketing by email at [email protected] or by phone at (757) 259-1564
The National Center for State Courts is the source of this information
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