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'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'CONNORIf 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'CONNORI think most people didn’t want to do court duty.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORHow dare you make my life a felony.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNORThe 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'CONNORSociety 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.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR[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.
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'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'CONNORWe expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOREach justice hires their own clerks, and applications are made individually to the justices. It isn’t a group decision.
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'CONNORIn 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'CONNORHistorically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
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'CONNORIt 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.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR