Giving Sandra Day O'Connor Her Due
The passing of the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court made headlines last week, but didn’t come close to the sendoff given to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Of course, Sandra Day O’Connor, who died at age 93 from complications due to dementia and a respiratory illness, had been gone from the court since 2005, when she announced her retirement to care for her husband, who had Alzheimer’s. Nevertheless, O’Connor blazed a trail that led the way for women like Ginsburg, and she did so with a no-nonsense, confident approach that garnered respect from men and women, Republicans and Democrats alike.
Appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald in 1981, O’Connor was a moderate conservative who based her decisions on what was best for the country, not necessarily for a particular party.
In 1991, she wrote the decision in Florida v Bostick, determining that police do not violate the 4th Amendment when randomly boarding buses and asking passengers to consent to be searched. “Our cases make it clear that a seizure does not occur simply because a police officer approaches an individual and asks a few questions,” she wrote. “So long as a reasonable person would feel free to disregard the police and go about his business, the encounter is consensual, and no reasonable suspicion is required.”
A year later, she led a majority of justices in reaffirming the core of the Roe v Wade ruling from 1973. “Some of us as individuals find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but that can’t control our decision,” she said after her decision in Planned Parenthood v Casey. “Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.”
In 2000, O’Connor and her fellow conservative justices sparked controversy when they made a decision to stop county recounts in Florida after the presidential election, thus making George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore. Recently released memos show O’Connor took the lead in influencing the court in the majority decision. “I am concerned that the Florida Supreme Court transgressed the lines of authority drawn by Article II of the Federal Constitution in substantially changing the state legislature’s statutory scheme for the appointment of presidential electors,” she wrote to the rest of the court prior to hearing arguments in Bush v Gore.
Lest anyone fear she was beholden to Bush after that case, O’Connor went against his administration in 2004, writing for the majority in a case that decided a U.S. citizen seized on the Afghan battlefield can challenge his detention through the courts in the United States. “We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens,” she wrote.
Perhaps O’Connor’s most profound example of resilience and sensibility came after she retired from the Supreme Court. She wanted to care of her husband, John, at their home, but as his Alzheimer’s progressed, O’Connor made the difficult decision to put him into an assisted living facility. The change was hard for both of them, but as Sandra began to fade from her husband’s memory, he found a girlfriend at the facility. O’Connor still visited her husband regularly, even though he no longer recognized her.
Instead of being sad or bitter, O’Connor was relieved that her husband was happy and comfortable. Seeing him holding hands with another woman gave the pragmatic O’Connor a sense of peace, and she remained close to him until his death in 2009.
Less than a decade later, O’Connor faced her own battle with dementia. As usual, she handled it with grace and humility.
In a 2018 letter released to the public, O’Connor reflected, “While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings of my life.
“I hope that I have inspired young people about civic engagement and helped pave the pathway for women who may have faced obstacles pursuing their careers,” she added. With four women now sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s clear that O’Connor did exactly that.