Historically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORSlaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
More Sandra Day O'Connor Quotes
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My sense is that jurists from other nations around the world understand that our court occupies a very special place in the American system, and that the court is rather well regarded in comparison, perhaps, to their own.
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It is true that as you have children, there are a good many months when you don’t want to be working full-time. I agree that that’s an issue.
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If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.
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It was better for me when I was joined at the court by a second woman. When I was there alone, there was too much media focus on the one woman, and the minute we got another woman, that changed.
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I have always thought that while it’s wonderful to be the first to do something, you don’t want to be the last.
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It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. Thats set out in the Constitution.
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I think it’s inevitable that some of the court’s decisions will be found by a segment of the public to be not the right decision or subject to criticism.
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Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.
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We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.
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The fact is that knowledge about the Constitution and the Court is not something that is handed down through the gene pool; every generation has to learn it. And I’m not sure the recent generations have done that good a job of learning about it.
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Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.
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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.
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[Court] is an institution that depends on making tough decisions in close cases for reasons that it explains well and that, in the past at least, have proven satisfactory to the public.
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I think most people didn’t want to do court duty.
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Each justice hires their own clerks, and applications are made individually to the justices. It isn’t a group decision.
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