Just saw Sandra Day O'Connor interviewed on CNN

[Haole Girl]

What a gracious, wonderful, woman. :-)

So different than a certain current day Justice I've spoken with personally.

No, I can't name names or even tell the story because I signed a confidentiality agreement at work. But I was struck by the contrast between the two.

[Faygo Kid]

1. And we thought she was bad back in the day . . .

Little did we know back then. Actually, Rehnquist WAS that bad, but O'Connor held back the dam. For a while.

[Haole Girl]

3. Never, in my wildlest dreams...

did I believe things could get this bad in our country. :-(

[CreekDog]

10. Until 2000 when she decided to fling it open

to hell with voters, ironically enough, in a decision that claimed to protect voters rights by nullifying their decision.

[avaistheone1]

46. True. True. True.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I would have a lot more respect for her if she had not helped put pres shit-for-brains in office,

then resigned, and THEN had the unmitigated gall to complain about the right turn that the court had taken...
She was the one who did not want to see President Al Gore.

I think she is a traitor to any of the moderate and just causes that she once defended. She allowed the court to be taken over by RWThugs..and did it knowingly.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/reformmore/p/sd_oconnor.htm

Sandra Day O'Connor has often cast a swing vote on the court. On issues including abortion, affirmative action, death penalty, and religious freedom, she has generally taken a middle road and has narrowly defined the issues, satisfying neither liberals nor conservatives completely. She has generally found in favor of states' rights and has found for tough criminal rules.

Sandra Day O'Connor's most controversial vote may be her vote in 2001 to suspend Florida's ballot recount, thus ensuring the election of George W. Bush as US President. This vote, in a 5-4 majority, came just months after she publicly expressed her concern that Senator Al Gore's election could delay her retirement plans.

[Haole Girl]

4. She talked about that

She claimed it wouldn't have mattered. * would have still gotten the votes.

I'm not quite so sure of that one myself.

And I could hear the regret in her voice, even though she said she'd vote the same today.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. She is full of crap. It was a 5-4 decision..so she was the determining vote.

She publicly stated that she could not retire if Al Gore were elected because she did not want him to be able to nominate a Supreme Court Justice.

see link in my previous post

[Haole Girl]

6. I didn't know that

Well, then she's yet another person I was wrong about. It doesn't surprise me. I seem to be a terrible judge of character. Thanks for telling me.

[BrklynLiberal]

11. It is not that you are a terrible judge of character..

These kinds of people are very good at covering their tracks.... and if you were not paying attention at the time...you would have missed the details.

Live and learn. Right? That is how we all get along.

[CreekDog]

12. It's okay

I like to believe good things about people too.

And I liked her too. I just can't square what she did, even if it was just once.

[laughingliberal]

30. It was election night 2000

She was at a gathering at someone's home. When they called Florida for Gore she said, "Oh, no!" Her husband explained to friends present there that she was hoping to retire but wanted a Republican to appoint her replacement. After the 5/4 decision to hand the White House to Bush, I think she waited til his 2nd term because of how bad this would have looked had she retired in his 1st term.

That said, she was pretty even handed and she upheld Roe which infuriated the RW what with her being appointed by a Republican and all. So, until the Bush v Gore decision she was not too bad.

[harkadog]

31. Her husband had Alzheimer's at the time.

If you want to use him as a source go for it.

[laughingliberal]

35. I remember it from news reports at the time

and found it, after reading your reply, in Wikipedia.

At an Election Night party at the Washington, D.C. home of Mary Ann Stoessel, widow of former Ambassador Walter Stoessel, the justice's husband, John O'Connor, mentioned to others her desire to step down, according to three witnesses. But Mr. O'Connor said his wife would be reluctant to retire if a Democrat were in the White House and would choose her replacement. Justice O'Connor declined to comment.<41><42>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O'Connor

Newsweek and WSJ reported the story at the time. She later denied it. It is possible for people in the early stages of Alzheimer's to still be quite lucid.

Moreover, according to a news story that ran in Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal, on election night 2000, O'Connor's husband had expressed concern that Al Gore appeared headed to a victory that would require the Justice to wait at least another four years before retiring. In the ABC News interview, Justice O'Connor emphatically denied the veracity of this story, but of course, the interview only aired after the Court adjourned for the summer on June 26.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20030709.html

Another reference to the story here:

At an Election Night party at the Washington, D.C. home of Mary Ann Stoessel, widow of former Ambassador Walter Stoessel, the justice's husband, John O'Connor, mentioned to others her desire to step down, according to three witnesses. But Mr. O'Connor said his wife would be reluctant to retire if a Democrat were in the White House and would choose her replacement. Justice O'Connor declined to comment.<18><19>

http://www.search.com/reference/Sandra_Day_O'Connor

From Time.com:

And according to the Wall Street Journal, O'Connor's husband said at an election-night party that his wife, a 70-year-old breast-cancer survivor, would like to retire but that she would be reluctant to leave if a Democrat won the presidency and got to select her successor. Hers was a key swing vote that ensured a Republican victory. A conflict? Says Lerman: "At the very least it creates an appearance problem."

http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20001225/poy_court.html

[Bluebear]

36. :crickets:

[harkadog]

40. All I know is that I took a class in law school from her

And she told us she wanted to retire because her husband needed full time care and she wanted to get him back home and out of DC. So I wouldn't trust him as a source and she denied the story. I believe the person without Alzheimer's vs. the person with it.

[laughingliberal]

41. There was never any dispute about her saying, "This is terrible," when Florida was given to Gore

Whether or not her husband said what several witnesses says he did does not change the, "this is terrible," comment which was reported by several people in attendance.

Regardless of whether the statement attributed to her husband was true or not, I do not think there is any dispute about her not wanting Gore to win the Presidency. And it puts her subsequent vote in Bush vs Gore in a worse light.

[harkadog]

42. Not really.

Her husband may have said what he is reported to have said. That doesn't mean his statement is a correct view of what O'Connor thought or felt at the time given his condition. As far as her "terrible" statement each one of those Justices in Bush v. Gore voted for someone. Each one came up through politics to their present position. Each one had some feeling about Gore or Bush being declared the winner of FL. Just because we don't have witnesses to whatever they said in their living rooms that night does that mean they didn't express some feelings about the outcome? Should we attack the liberals on the court in Bush v. Gore because they voted for Gore? If you want to criticize the decision then it should be done on the merits not on the fact individual justices have political views that are allowed under the Constitution.

[laughingliberal]

44. I believe the decision for Bush by the 5 who installed him was totally political

and nothing will ever change my mind about that. Considering the horribleness of the decision as outlined by far better constitutional scholars than any here I think it is clear those who voted to install Bush did so for political rather than constitutional reasons. Political views are allowed but are not supposed to be the basis for rulings.

It's too bad. I always saw her as fair even at times when she did not vote as I would like. The Bush vs Gore decision I will always believe was self serving and not based on her beliefs. She now seems concerned about the damage installing Bush has done but it's a little late for me.

Feel free to defend her vote on whatever grounds you wish. My opinion has been the same since the ruling was made in 2000. I happen to believe the witnesses who reported what her husband said and believe he was, likely, lucid enough to know what he meant. I have worked a lot in my career with Alzheimer's patients and it does not sound as if his mind was gone. He still knew who his wife was and he knew what her job was. My opinion on that has not changed. I simply stated, for the sake of argument, that her motive was self serving regardless if the widely reported story about his statement was true or not.

[harkadog]

49. You do know, don't you, the meat of the Bush v.Gore decision

was a 7-2 vote. Seven Justices including two of the "liberals" voted there was a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution based on what was happening in FL. There was a disagreement on the remedy. Five voted to suspend the count and the other four had different remedies to the violation.

[laughingliberal]

50. None of that changes the fact that I think her vote was self serving

and not based on the Constitution.

[joeybee12]

14. She can go to hell if she says she'd vote the same way...that decision

was an absolute disgrace, a total disregard for precedent and the Constitution.

[Foo Fighter]

29. Exactly.

It was based on a personal situation (her desire to retire) rather than Constitutional law. A prime argument to do away with lifetime appointments if I have ever seen one.

[baldguy]

7. O'Connor was part of the Gang Of Five that hijacked the Constitution & led the coup that installed W

Unless she's done a public confession & several acts of contrition recently, "gracious" and "wonderful" aren't adjectives that should be used to describe her.

[malaise]

43. +1 n/t

[CreekDog]

8. A wonderful, gracious woman, who undid the 2000 election

I'll try to square those.

I guess she subverted democracy graciously. :wtf:

I know we're grateful to court moderates for occasionally not kicking us in the teeth when we may be expecting it. Fine.

But that doesn't make her a good justice (she wasn't) or particularly admirable.

[Nite Owl]

9. Not so fast on that

She is responsible for 8yrs of hell installing $Bush and Cheney.
Maybe she learned a lesson but too late now for all who have died because of her.

[avaistheone1]

45. You are correct.

I don't know that I will ever be able to forgive her for that decision.

[bemildred]

13. Sorry, she is a moron or she is a stooge.

Not much of a choice. The 2000 election was very like the "Corporations are People Too!" vote in that the USSC inserted itself actively into the political process, and she went along.

[tabasco]

15. A republicon puppet trying to rewrite history and restore her image.

She is an evil crone who knowingly betrayed her country.

[Haole Girl]

16. Now that I really think about it, I think you might be right...

that was the regret in her voice.

[Geek_Girl]

17. If it wasn't for her we would never had Shrubby as Prez

Yeah she's great.

:sarcasm:

[rateyes]

18. O'Connor has blood on her hands. She is greatly responsible for

the death of millions of innocents, the orphaning of thousands of children, the maiming of soldiers, etc. because of her lack of integrity in 2000.

And, now she says she'd vote the same way??

To hell with her.

[Zomby Woof]

19. Jesus Christ on brown acid

Now DUers are defending Reagan appointees. Especially one that effectively helped seal the stolen 2000 election for Bush.

:puke:

[Haole Girl]

20. delete

You are so not worth it.

[Bluebear]

21. Gracious & wonderful? Her legacy is everything we see today because of Bush v Gore.

[bigwillq]

22. Not a fan of hers

After 2000. :mad:

[Raine]

23. I HATE her guts

it's thanks to her we're in the mess we are today. :mad: I saw the first part of the interview with her earlier in the week and I wanted to :puke: If there is any justice, she'll spend eternity stoking the fires of hell. :grr: :evilfrown:

[applegrove]

24. She pointed out that with corporate money the GOP could control the justice system

elections over the next few years and that worried her. Worries me too.

[elleng]

25. Do you think it will rerun?

[Haole Girl]

26. Don't know

You can google "sandra day o'connor interview wolf blitzer"

Or, look here: http://twitter.com/wolfblitzercnn

[hayu_lol]

27. A lifetime of solid service to the nation was wiped out...

the day she became the whore of Babylon because Al Gore would have prevented her from her retirement. I don't really like Gore, never did, but compared to Bush and what we have received at his hands, Gore is almost saintlike.

She is trying mightily to change her image before she kicks the bucket. She should have thought of that before voting that one time on that one issue that makes a mockery of her life.

No dice Sandy...burn in Hell.

[elleng]

28. Thanks

[Terra Alta]

32. I don't care what O'Connor says

I will never forgive her for helping to put that piece of shit Dumbya in office in 2000. :grr:

[VPStoltz]

33. This "gracious" lady might have been the ONE vote that installed "W" in the White House.

This woman is "wonderful" not.

[FrenchieCat]

34. There's no "Might" about it. She did vote to put "W" into the White House......

and we will be paying for that for years and years and years.

[concerned1]

37. The gracious woman sided with evil

The departing chimp was also described as "gracious" in several news reports early last year.

[TexasObserver]

38. She's pissed. The 5 GOP wingers on the court took a big deuce on her 2003 opinion.

It was on point, and she wrote the opinion of the court. They bull dozed her opinion to make this change in the law.

[Vickers]

39. Fuck her. She subverted our system and allowed a numbnuts like Wee Cowboy

to disgrace the office of the President.

Unforgivable.

Unrec.

[HughBeaumont]

47. NO part of The Fascist 5 (Part I) deserves ANY credit.

AFAIK, she's never apologized for her ruinous decision.

And as long as Sandra feels the deaths of 1 million people (possibly more thanks to zero talk of universal health care) and the exacerbated economic ruin of the USA on one single solitary person's slimy vote is not worth apologizing for, then as far as I'm concerned, she can continue to symbolically scrub the blood off of her hands until she grows a conscience and owns up to her bad decision.

I mean, it ain't likely you're gonna get a "sorry" from the twin idiots Scalia or Thomas and Rehnquist's extended dirt nap prevents him from expressing any unlikely regret. So I guess that leaves the two most puzzling votes and an added explanation as to why they chose an obviously unqualified dry drunk and political/business failure over a Vice President and career senator with a near impeccable record of governing. OH, I'd LOVE to hear that one.

[Green_Lantern]

48. She was wrong on Bush v. Gore...

But she was definitely better than Alito but only because Alito sides with the powerful vs. the powerless when dealing with govt. and corporations whereas O'Connor stood by the powerless on social issues but the powerful when dealing with corporations.

At least she had it half right.