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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.

Sandra Day O'Connor

I don’t think it’s the court’s perceived role to do some explaining of a political nature.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Nature Political Roles Thinking
And I went off to Stanford, I was pretty young and pretty naive. And I had a professor I really loved, who was himself a lawyer.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Lawyers Professors Young
I like to think that the court will continue to be held in high regard by the public. I think it should be.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Court Regard Thinking
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

Country People Thinking
[G]overnment endorsement . . . of religion . . . sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Church Community Political
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.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Country House Special System World
Slaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Leadership Procrastination Sports
I think most people didn’t want to do court duty.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Duty People Thinking Want
If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Christian Groups Religious
If I stumbled badly in doing the job, I think it would have made life more difficult for women, and that was a great concern of mine and still is.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Great Day Jobs Thinking
Historically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Borders Country Looks
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.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Constitution Done Pool
If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Death May Penalty Statistics
In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Eye Leadership Race
How dare you make my life a felony.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Dare Felony Gay Lgbt
Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Doubt Jurisprudence Liberty

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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Popular Authors

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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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