I'm not on the court anymore, so no use looking for my philosophy. If somebody's waiting for that, they can wait for another justice. Sandra Day O'Connor More Quotes by Sandra Day O'Connor More Quotes From Sandra Day O'Connor If parents instill a sense of civic-mindedness - and there is no better way to do that than by example - their children will probably follow. Sandra Day O'Connor parentexamplechildren If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed. Sandra Day O'Connor death-penaltystatisticsmay The proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it. Sandra Day O'Connor judiciaryroleslaw If you take a position under the Constitution that is against the majority view, you have to explain it well enough that maybe you can persuade some of that majority to agree with you. Sandra Day O'Connor constitutionmajorityviews Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person. Sandra Day O'Connor womenfamilynature The more education a woman has, the wider the gap between men's and women's earnings for the same work. Sandra Day O'Connor gapsearningmen The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions. Sandra Day O'Connor democracyhealthyjudging Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result. Sandra Day O'Connor influence-and-powerpartytaken It's hard to have little children and a job and career at the same time. There is no time left for you as a woman. Sandra Day O'Connor careersjobschildren When I went to law school, which after all was back in the dark ages, we never looked beyond our borders for precedents. As a state court judge, it never would have occurred to me to do so, and when I got to the Supreme Court, it was very much the same. We just didn't do it. Sandra Day O'Connor court-judgesdarkschool It is a measure of the framers' fear that a passing majority might find it expedient to compromise 4th Amendment values that these values were embodied in the Constitution itself. Sandra Day O'Connor majoritypoliticsmight My hope is that 10 years from now, after I've been across the street at work for a while, they'll all be glad they gave me that wonderful vote. Sandra Day O'Connor politicshopeyears A state of war is not a blank check... when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens. Sandra Day O'Connor citizensrightswar The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation. Sandra Day O'Connor constitutionindependentpaper The unhappy persistence of both the practice and the lingering effects of racial discrimination ...is an unfortunate reality...and the government is not disqualified from acting in response to it. Sandra Day O'Connor persistencegovernmentreality I think people know very little, really, about the court, how it works and its history. And both of those things are important in our country, but they're not things that most citizens know much about. Sandra Day O'Connor countrypeoplethinking You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that they can make things happen. Sandra Day O'Connor citizensgovernmentideas I'm a judge. It seemed to me that it was critical to try to take action to stem the criticism and help people understand that in the constitutional framework, it's terribly important not to have a system of retaliation against decisions people don't like. Sandra Day O'Connor decisionjudgingpeople What the framers of the Constitution tried to achieve when they wrote that Constitution back in the 1700s was an independent federal judiciary. They wanted federal judges to be appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and to serve for good behavior. Sandra Day O'Connor independentjudgingadvice My concerns through the years increased about the concerns of an independent judiciary and how we maintain it. Certainly in the states. I'm a product of state government in my own state of Arizona. And it seemed to me that the popular election of judges was creating major problems in many states, and we had improved the system in Arizona. And I thought the nation ought to at least rethink how we select our nation's trial judges in the states. Sandra Day O'Connor creatingindependentgovernment
