Slaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORSlaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORI have always thought that while it’s wonderful to be the first to do something, you don’t want to be the last.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORI tried to decide each case based on the law and the Constitution.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORMy 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[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'CONNORI think I learned to appreciate and treasure each day, because you don’t know how many you’re going to be given.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORThe freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORI 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'CONNORHistorically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORThe 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'CONNORAnd 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'CONNORWhat was a problem was the excessive amount of media attention to the appointment of the first woman and everything she did. Everywhere that Sandra went, the press was sure to go. And that got tiresome; it was stressful.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORIf 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'CONNORLiberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORI finally gave up my little law practice and stayed home for about three years. You have to do what you can to keep the family going. But I wanted to get back to work. So I got another babysitter and went to work as an Assistant Attorney General.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORMy 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