Sandra Day O’Connor shone as a beacon for law’s power and integrity
News that Sandra Day O’Connor, the Supreme Court’s first woman justice, died last week at age 93 brought back fond memories in the Chicago Tribune editorial-board offices of her gracious — and well-attended — visit 10 years ago.
And it broke the hearts of their colleagues here at the Sentinel. Justice O’Connor’s unflinching integrity casts a harsh light on the current, and perilous, state of discord that Floridians are witnessing, even as it gives us hope for leaders with the courage she exhibited during her long life of service to the rule of law.
That integrity persisted even after her exit from the nation’s highest court. She politely disappointed Tribune board members by upholding the tradition of refusing to comment on decisions made during her time there or after.
“I’m an old lady with a short memory,” she said.
That self-deprecating crack took on new poignancy in 2018 when she announced that she’d been diagnosed with “the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease.” Her husband John O’Connor had died of complications of Alzheimer’s in 2009.
Yet, she showed no difficulty in remembering the frustrations of life decades ago when she was trying to get started as a lawyer. The self-described “cowgirl from the Arizona desert” called 40 firms that had advertised on the Stanford Law School’s bulletin board and didn’t get a single interview.
She finally was hired by a county attorney after she offered to work for no pay and shared a space with the secretary. “I loved the work,” she said with a smile.
Better offers would come later, most memorably in 1981 when, after only two years on Arizona’s Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the nation’s highest court, fulfilling his campaign promise to name the nation’s first female Supreme Court justice.
The Senate confirmed her unanimously.
Those were less partisan days, especially when it came to the judiciary. But the lack of opposition signaled confidence she would be a consensus-builder, grounding her decisions in her interpretation of the Constitution, not ideology.
Did she succeed? On some of the most contentious issues of our times — abortion, voting rights affirmative action, sex discrimination — she proved to be an equal-opportunity offender to those on the left and the right. Conservatives, for example, expected a Reagan appointee to come down on their side more often. Instead, O’Connor’s conservatism was pragmatic, seeking to build public confidence in what after all is our least democratic branch of government, with lifetime appointments to boot.
You could hear her appeal to reason in her confirmation hearings when she was asked what kind of legacy she would like to leave. “Ah, the tombstone question,” she said. “I hope it says, ‘Here lies a good judge.’”
She was that and far more. Here in the Sunshine State, we have seen voices emerge with equal courage, conviction and reverence for the law. More are needed, and reflecting on O’Connor’s remarkable life spurs hope that they will soon emerge.
This editorial is adapted from one that originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune. The Orlando Sentinel reprints editorials that reflect our own viewpoint. The Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com