O'Connor Says She Is Worried About Future of Federal Judiciary

[deminks]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=amecn6IvmZ0c

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said she is worried about the future of the federal judiciary because of a ``climate of antipathy'' in Congress.

``I don't think I've ever seen relations as strained as they are now between the judiciary and some members of Congress, and it makes me very sad to see it,'' O'Connor said today at a judicial conference in Spokane, Washington, televised on C-SPAN.

O'Connor cited congressional efforts to restrict federal court authority to decide certain issues, criticism by some lawmakers of Supreme Court decisions that cite international law and Congress's failure to raise judicial salaries to keep pace with equivalent private-sector legal jobs.

O'Connor said efforts in Congress to restrict federal court jurisdiction to decide particular issues were ``a new approach that's worrisome.''

(end snip)

I think this judge may still have a lot to say. She might be better outside of the SC. Just a thought.

[Hardrada]

1. She didn't have to give her SC vote

to that dum fukk who is wrecking our society.

[deminks]

6. So true. nt.

[neuvocat]

7. Exactly.

She pissed and moaned about how she just had to stay on the bench in case Al Gore got elected. Yeah we're all just full of empathy for the old hag.

[Pachamama]

34. Nor did she really have to retire so soon....yeah, feeling real bad as I

saw the AP photos of her fly-fishing....

[calimary]

47. Unfortunately true. It doesn't matter how much you complain, Sandra.

You helped bring this on. YOU helped bring this on. YOU PERSONALLY. YOUR vote to give it to bush over Gore opened the floodgates to this. The bad guys you speak of wouldn't have been in power, or EMPOWERED, by the then-budding juggernaut YOU approved. YOU, SINGLEHANDEDLY, could have prevented all of this. Because the more wins these assholes got, the more ill-gotten gain they racked up, the gutsier and greedier and more malevolent they grew, because there's been nothing to check them. And YOU made it happen. YOU made all of that possible.

At the moment, I don't want to hear any whining or complaining or verbal handwringing from her. She already said more than a mouthful on December 12th, 2000, thank you very much. She's a traitor to her gender, and to all reasonable, logical, independent thinkers and democracy lovers everywhere. Good riddance, Sandra. You're only in it for yourself. You're resigning because you're only in it for yourself. Fine. You will carry all of that on your conscience til the day you die. POX on you.

on edit - YAY, my star is back!

[cybildisobedience]

48. Couldn't. Agree. More.

Thanks for stating it so passionately.

[Mad_Dem_X]

51. Exactly - excellent post!

Hey Sandra: :nopity:

No tears for you!

[mikita]

56. double ditto...

you've said it so well. Thank you. May Sandy have pangs about her sellout FOREVER. I can't type "forever" big enough....

[Uncle Joe]

57. Absolutely!!

Apparently, trying to determine the will of the American People was just too much trouble, it is so much easier for five people to decide who should be President.:sarcasm: I wonder, if the Judiciary were to be paid more, they might do their job and let the American People have a say in one of our elections, nah. :puke:

[Carni]

67. Helped? You are far too kind!

SHE BROUGHT US THIS FUCKED UP MESS!

And now she has the audacity to whine about her *concerns*

That *woman* has some very very bad karma IMO

[cureautismnow]

72. Right on Target...

She also enabled Bush-boy to wage his grudge war, which resulted in the deaths of 100K+ innocent souls. Their blood is just as much on her hands as his. She ought to complain about not sleeping well at night - assuming she does have a conscience. :puke:

[DamnYank]

52. Classic case of reaping what one sows.....

In this case, idiocy.

[Supersedeas]

53. Bush v. Gore.Bush v. Gore.Bush v. Gore: some votes count more than others

[meganmonkey]

54. Hay DamnYank -

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[iamjoy]

9. Agree With The Sentiment

although I wouldn't have expressed it quite that way.

My first thought was, if you are so worried, why the heck are you retiring? You must have known what kind of idealogue Dubya would appoint. For that matter, you knew before Selection 2000. When you stated that you wanted to retire, but wanted a Republican to appoint your replacement, did you think they'd nominate a moderate?

[Ilsa]

27. She drank the KoolAid Rove prepared for her and moderate

voters. Alot of them weren't hearing or listening to the reports of Bush's psychopathology and "Bornagin-ness".

Screw her anyway for not dealing it to Gore.

[tblue37]

32. I think she and Rehnquist

have both been suffering from a severe case of buyer's remorse. He is hanging on desperately, even though he is half-dead, and she held on all through Bush's first term, probably hoping he wouldn't get "reelected." I have heard her husband has Alzheimer's and that it is progressing rapidly, and that may be why she is finally giving up and retiring.

I actually suspect that both she and Rehnquist probably voted for Kerry.

[barb162]

55. I don't think so. I read that when she heard Gore was winning

Florida she said "oh no" or something to that effect. Remember her SC vote in the Gore/Bush Florida mess? SHe's got the guy in there she wants...Bush

Now Rehnquist, I don't know what is going on there. He's like the walking dead

[Carni]

68. She remarked at a cocktail party before selection 2000

That she hoped Gore didn't win because she really wanted to retire and could not with Gore as Pres.

[tblue37]

75. Yes, of course--

but I think she has been horrified by Bush and his fundie supporters, and that once she realized what she had done to the country, she tried to hold out long enough to get someone else elected. If her husband were not so ill, I think she would hold on longer and hope for impeachment.

Same with Rehnquist. He helped but chimp in there, but now is horrified, I think, at what chimp has done to the country and is holding out in hopes of preventing chimp from getting to name his replacement. O'Conner and Rehnquist actually believe in the separation of church and state, and they know that Bush's supporters want SC justices that will destroy that wall.

[Zorra]

19. Yes. She was particularly responsible for destroying democracy in the US.

Along with 4 of her colleagues.

And she knows full well that what she did was immoral, illegal, unethical, partisan, and treasonous. She corrupted the law, and shamed the highest court in the land

And that is her legacy. History will not forget. Eventually, the fascists will be defeated, and O'Connor will be remembered for all time as an American traitor.

[mazzarro]

40. Ditto That !

eom

[Uncle Joe]

58. Yes and we have been living in Pottersville ever since. n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

84. Pottersville-- the Neocons' vision for the Middle Class

[Iowa]

23. Agree With The Sentiment

...and I would have expressed it precisely that way. Well said Lord_StarFyre.

[clydefrand]

3. Who made the following statement? Was it DeLay or ???

O'Connor noted that some in Congress criticized the court's March 1 decision outlawing the death penalty for juvenile murderers because it cited other nations' bans on such punishment

[Joy Anne]

15. lots of Republicans

There was quite an uproar from dummies who don't realize that their insistence on "free trade" is producing the need to incorporate international law and other countries' laws into our legal system.

[aquart]

4. Then the little whore shouldn't have voted to crown Bush.

Rot in hell, Sandra. You have tens of thousands of lives asking you why they had to die. For eternity.

May you never sleep.

[kestrel91316]

18. You get the gold star! Right on.

[Bluebear]

73. Can't say it any better than that. nt

[Mountainman]

5. Didn't she say "Oh no!" or something when she thought Gore had won?

[Joy Anne]

16. when it looked like Gore was winning,

she was overheard to complain that she wanted to retire and didn't feel free to do that unless there was a Republican in the White House. Why she waited 5 years, I have no idea.

[lawladyprof]

31. I think she stayed through the term she "gave"

and felt free to retire once he "won" the election in November.

[krkaufman]

59. Of course, that second "victory" is tainted by the first...

... since he wouldn't have "won" the second time around had the first election not been stolen.

Help me out here, lawladyprof... If a bank is robbed of $100,000 and the bank robber invests the $100,000 in the stock market, are the profits from the stock investment considered legitimate?

[Mister Mark]

17. I'm not a regular defender of O'Connor but...

...there was never any confirmation that she really said that. I think it could have easily been just a rumor.

[area51]

36. "never any confirmation?"

There were eye(ear)witnesses, Mark. She said it at a party at her house.

[RaRa]

8. Fuck her

She's directly responsible for "strained" climate. She should go bury her head in shame for that shameful excuse for a legal decision. Fuck, Fuck, Fuckity Fuck HER!

[JDPriestly]

10. I wish she were staying.

Why does she have to abandon us now? She was no liberal, and I often did not agree with her, but she genuinely tried to be fair, heard both sides of issues and had compassion for women. Her opinion in Casey is an example of that compassion. She will be sorely missed by all Americans of good will and we liberals will have a much less favorable Court.

[silvermachine]

45. From what was reported...

...her husband has been in declining health for years now (Alzheimer's) and she decided to take care of him.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-poconnor11jul11,0,7483003.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

[UTUSN]

11. Well, She Should Have Thought abt It Before She Became a Repuke n/t

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

12. Any chance maybe she was "forced" into retirement?

I highly doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

[silvermachine]

46. Husband has Alzheimer's

...her husband has been in declining health for years now (Alzheimer's) and she decided to take care of him.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-po...

[Tommymac]

63. Sorry, no sympathy for her.

Tens of thousands of Americans have relatives who are suffering from alzheimers, and other diseases. Most are not able to quit their jobs to provide full time care. A lot do not have good health insurance. A lot have to be put in homes because the family cannot care for them as they would wish too.

You are putting yourself above the needs of the People once again.

Sandra, you put this heartless administration in power. I am sorry for your husband, but not for you. May you feel just one one thousandth of the suffering you have put tens upon tens of thousands of Americans through the last five years because you helped appoint this treacherous, traitorous administration in the first place.

No amount of handwringing will wipe the blood from your hands; no amount of crocodile tears will wipe the stain from your legacy.

:rant:

[Jax]

13. Oh NOW you're worried

Thanks for installing that DIVIDING, lying, war mongering drunken coke snorting deserter and all around sorry excuse for a human being into the Oval Office.

I could care less how you feel Ms. O'Connor, not anymore.

This mess is on YOUR head.

snip...
"I don't personally think that it's a good idea to restrict freedom of speech or thought for any of our citizens, even if they are federal judges,'' O'Connor said."



No, just you just like to restrict and stop people's votes from counting.

[Maccagirl]

14. Make bed-Sleep in it

Generations will be paying for your bad judgement Sandra Day O'Connor. Your "mea-culpa" is worthless you &*$#@!.

[IndianaGreen]

20. The bitch voted for Bush in Bush v. Gore!

She should take a good look in the mirror and ask herself how much damage did the Court do to the Republic when it chose to intervene in the Florida recount.

[Bay Boy]

21. You demean yourself

when you write like that.

[dbt]

35. Nah. Let me show you how it's done.

Sandra Day O'Connor is an accessory to rape, pure and simple. She held Lady Liberty down while Rehnny and The Boys sodomized her with their wrinkly little micropenii.

Sandra Day O'Connor laid down with bu$h and rose up with leprosy. SHE opened the door for the Plague that ravages us and now has the utter temerity to whine about a judicial climate that she helped create WITH HER WHORE'S EYES WIDE GODDAMN OPEN!

Sandra Day O'Connor's picture belongs only on a post office wall, with those of other rapists. She deserves only to burn in Hell for eternity. Sandra Day O'Connor needs to kiss my shiny metal ASS!

:grr:

PS: Welcome to The DU. Enjoy your stay!

[Bay Boy]

44. I see how it's done here

we get to call women we don't like bitchs and whores.

What do we get to call black people that we don't like?

[gkhouston]

50. Secretary of State n/t

[AzDar]

64. Ooooooh, SNAP! Made me spew Diet Mtn. Dew..........lol n/t

[Uncle Joe]

60. I like your Johnny Cash avatar n/t

[dweller]

22. and complains about the pay?

"Congress's failure to raise judicial salaries to keep pace with equivalent private-sector legal jobs"


:nopity:

dp

[geckosfeet]

24. Yes. So they can get the lowest bidder in there to whore for the

congress and senate. What better way to control the land.

I am leaving.

[dweller]

26. leaving?

a trail of breadcrumbs would be helpful...

dp

[geckosfeet]

41. the country

[dweller]

69. happy trails

be sure to check in DU once you get there.

dp

[geckosfeet]

74. soitinly

[dweller]

78. oh, and keep the guest room stocked

for .... let's see... 70K or so, just in case there's a mass exodus in the near future.

:D

dp

[geckosfeet]

79. errr,,, ummmm,,, I will see what I can do. But call first.

[Uncle Joe]

61. I have come to the conclusion that after Bush vs Gore,

they are being paid way too much. What if we were to pass an ammendment to the constitution limiting the Supreme Court's pay to minimun wage. I wonder if the minimun wage would go up?

P.S. No doubt Congress would have to paid minimun wage also.

[woldnewton]

25. She says, in her retirement speech...

Seems to me you should stick around. As they say, "You break it, you bought it."

[Uncle Joe]

62. The only problem with this is, they would never leave,

because they don't know or don't care to fix anything except elections, and when I use the word fix it does not mean repairing anything, more like fixing a horse race.

[leesa]

28. Perhaps you shouldn't have voted Dubya into office then ya traitor!

[goforit]

29. She has alota karma to pay Humanity....

Bush = 911 = Iraq = entire world of terrorism

millions of lives will be spent and all their blood is on her hands as well all due to her 2000 decision against Al Gore!!!!

[xray s]

30. Why can't she just say it ?

It isn't "congress" that is the source of her "worries". It's the extreme Republican agenda that worries her. And yet this coward can't come out and say "Republican congress".

Go and retire and spend the time pondering the damage you have wrought to our country.

What bullshit.

[Piperay]

33. Stupid shit for brains should've

thought of that before she gave the pResidency to chimp! O'Connor can fuck off!:mad: :grr:

[SoCalDem]

37. Gee whiz, Sandy, old girl

Perhaps you should have thought about that when the SCOTUS appointed *² ..

That episode will NEVER go away, and over half the country will never forget it..

and it might help too if the SCOTUS refused to take the "obvious" issue cases that republican lawyers are always pushing.. SCOTUS does not HAVE to take any case, and yet every year they seem to be ready to interject themselves into every bullshit case they can, to help bolster the rightwing agenda..

Perhaps they should also stop schmoozing with legislators and being "buddies" with the administration..ANY adminsitration.

The public finally sees the SCOTUS for what it is.. 9 political hacks, appointed to lifetime job security on a job that assistants do most of. A job that is reward for past political favors.. Quid Pro Quo at its very core.

[teryang]

38. Marbury v. Madison

It's up to the courts themselves to carve out their constitutional role in governance. This supreme court suggested again and again that it was up to Congress to decide this and that rather than make the necessary decisions based upon constitutional principle. Now the corporate/fundamentalist/demagogue controlled Congress is taking them up on it.

[Solly Mack]

39. But she got exactly what she voted for

and now she complains?

[Orsino]

42. Yeah. If we're not careful...

...crazy corporatists might okay extraordinary seizures of private property under eminent domain. Or install an unelected fraud as President, or something.

[MGKrebs]

43. Reminder: She is not out yet.

She is technically not retiring until a replacement is in place.

That's the way I understand it.

[cascadiance]

49. Yah, she can redeem herself some...

By getting the supremes to give Sibel Edmonds her day in the Supreme Court unfettered by administration "gag" orders after Sibel files her appeal paperwork in August!

Voting in favor of Sibel's case would be a good middle finger salute to Bush on her way out! Anything less would confirm that she's as culpable as any in putting this POS in power and helping him wreak havoc over the rest of us!

[earth mom]

65. Yeah, Sandy, we can tell you REALLY CARE.

:eyes:

Whats-a-matter, your conscience getting to you? :sarcasm:

[pseudostar]

66. wtf?

As far as Im concerned SDC is responsible for 20% of every messed up thing this administration does.

[Disturbed]

70. It is amazing that one woman had that much power.

Amerika is on it's way toward a Fascist Police State. I am wondering if I should seriously consider moving to another country in a few months before it becomes impossible to do so.

[Stirk]

71. Am I missing something here?

All the problems she described are a direct result of the far right attaining control of two branches of government (something for which Ms. O'Connor shares more than a little blame). They're undermining the Judiciary because it's the only branch that they don't have complete control over.

And she's going to just *hand* Bush another Supreme Court appointment, essentially ceding the third branch of government to the same wackos she's complaining about?

I don't get it.

[not fooled]

77. yeah, and didn't she just call future sc(r)otus hanger-on Roberts...

...a "quality choice" or some such? That stealth dickhead hard-right corporatist???

Sandy, you are effing the country even in your retirement.

[upoceg]

76. buyer's remorse is a bitch, eh?

If she cared so much she'd stay in office for 31/2 more years.
Even rehnquist on his deathbed has the dignity to not give it up to bushco, and baby, he's no pinnacle of judicial integrity.
i feel for her situation with her husband, but sometimes an oath to your country needs to mean something beyond the personal.

[WhiteTara]

80. I despise her for her role in installing

chimpy the dictator. No amount of white wash will ever make her soul clean imo

[natrat]

81. fuck you sandy ho

you gave us chimp in 2000 you dickbag

[liberaliraqvet26]

82. Maybe you shouldve stayed on then...

at least Roe would be safe. Remember who appointed this shithead to begin with.

[silvershadow]

83. "O'Connor cited

"O'Connor cited congressional efforts to restrict federal court authority to decide certain issues".

I know they have done this in the past on some things, and have threatened to do it more recently, although the exact circumstances escape me. What I have always wondered, though, is how can this be constitutional? Congress makes the laws, and the courts interperet the laws. Seems to me congress doesn't have the authority to remove any laws or any court cases from the purview of the court. What about the separation of powers?

Does anyone here know the specific circumstances where congress has done this? And have there been any court challenges to this? It just seems to me to be unconstitutional on its face.