Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: The Framers’ “First Woman” DEBORAH JONES MERRITT SandraDay O’Connor’s appointmentto the Supreme Courtwas a historic stride inAmerican women’s slow but determined march towards full equality. At our nation’s birth, Abigail Adams urged her husband and other members of the Continental Congress to “Remember the Ladies” in their new government.1 “We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems,” John Adams replied onlyhalfjokingly.2 More thantwo centuries wouldpass before a woman donned Supreme Court robes to help interpret the United States Constitution. Justice O’Connor’s 1981 confirmation struck a chord with women and men around the world. Letters flooded the new Chambers, offering congratulations and rejoicing in this affirmation of women’s ability to lead. Citi zens wrote movingly about how the appoint ment of a woman to the Supreme Court had inspired them and their daughters to set higher goals. During that first Term, as in all those suc ceeding it, Justice O’Connor assumed two vi tal roles. In the first, she symbolized the new role of women in public life. She had mar ried and raised three sons, but she had also practiced law, prosecuted crimes, led the ma jority in her state senate, spearheaded civic reform movements, and served with distinc tion as a statejudge. On the Supreme Court of the United States, she demonstrated daily that women could reach the highest levels of their professions and public life. But role models have day jobs as well; O’Connor’s second professional role was the demanding one of Supreme Court Justice. From the first Term, she showed her strength on the Bench. Lawyers quickly learned to pre pare for her questions, which were likely to penetrate the weakest comers of their argu ments. O’Connor authored key decisions, as well as noteworthy concurrences and dissents, from her very first year. The O’Connor Chambers, like others at the Court, acquired its own culture. George Catlin’s paintings of the American West adorned the office walls. The Justice gained a nickname, “SO’C,” from participating in the cert pool. A first-year outing to the Smithso nian’s Museum of African Art set the pace 108 JOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY for annual Chambers’ expeditions. And an early morning exercise class attracted women from throughout the building, spawning a memorable t-shirt: “Women Work Out at the Supreme Court.” Through it all, the press and public watched to see how a “woman Justice” would differfromthe men shejoined. But O’Connor’s voice was more centrist, pragmatic, and Ari zonan than distinctively female. She displayed keen attention to the facts of each case, de ciding disputes in the careful fashion of all thoughtfuljurists. She respected state lawmak ing, jury deliberations, and the discretion of lower-courtjudges. Justice O’Connor also gave special voice to the intentions ofthe Constitution’s Framers. Like them, she grew up in a half-wild, halftamed land. Like them, she had to fight for equal treatment. And like them, she experi enced dizzying change in her lifetime. John Adams evolved from British subject to Presi dent of a new nation; Sandra Day O’Connor advanced from offers of secretarial work to Supreme Court Justice. O’Connor’s judicial opinions reflect the Framers’ respect for individual liberty. She shares their commitment to personal free dom and government restraint. At the same time, her jurisprudence reflects the Framers’ recognition that individual liberty sometimes requires restraining the majority’s will. As O’Connor explained in the last opinion she authored before announcing her retirement, “[W]e do not count heads before enforcing the First Amendment.”3 To do so would contradict “the Founders’ plan of preserving religious liberty... in a pluralistic society.”4 O’Connor’s own appointment to the Court symbolizes both our pluralistic society and the resilience of the Framers’ constitutional de sign. John Adams and his colleagues surely did not intend an Arizona cowgirl to sit on the Supreme Court. But they created a Constitu tion strong enough to embrace territorial, cul tural, and civic growth. The Framers were men ofthe Enlightenmentwho believed inprogress. They knew that theirnew nation would expand and that its...
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Jul 1, 2024
Melissa Gampe + 2
Open Access
