![]() Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, overturning 50 years of abortion jurisprudence. Mom was right to be concerned, as public perception of the court did take a hit, as it did again last year with the Dobbs v. Would public opinion be so hostile as to weaken the public’s trust in this revered branch of government? Gore was for the reputation of the court itself. Gore, knowing that no matter what the court decided, the decision would be reviled by roughly half the nation. This was true even with the case she most regretted having to decide at all, Bush v. ![]() Neither did the pundits, who were maddened by her unpredictability and sometimes conflicting rationales, but I trusted that she was taking each case with an open mind and paying close attention to the facts, the law and the consequences of the decision the court would reach. I didn’t agree with all of Mom’s Supreme Court opinions. View Gallery: Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme Court nomination in 1981 This is a much better system than judges who decide cases in favor of the side with the larger bribe, as happens in some countries. ![]() Judges don’t get all their decisions right but do so most of the time. She had just witnessed members of Congress and even the president trying to engage in the resolution of a right-to-die case out of Florida, involving Terri Schiavo, substituting their own judgment for that of the judicial system, which was handling the case, even if not to the complete satisfaction of every voter. One of the first initiatives Mom pursued upon retirement from the high court in 2006 was to raise awareness of the need for judicial independence, free of interference from the legislative and executive branches. USA TODAY's Women of the Year: How honoree Sandra Day O’Connor made her mark on US Supreme Court Mom championed judicial independence 'Mom's still there.' Sandra Day O’Connor just turned 93. This growing awareness informed Mom’s sense that typical Americans take this for granted, unaware of how dependent our judiciary is on public trust in their institutions. She became an ambassador for the Rule of Law, particularly in the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a board member of the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI) for more than 15 years, helping emerging democracies write new legal systems with the assistance of volunteer lawyers from the United States.ĬEELI volunteers quickly learned that one of the most difficult concepts to convey to their counterparts was of a free and independent judiciary to protect constitutional rights of the people. After a while the demand to meet her and hear her grew to include the rest of the world.
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