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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

I loved my husband very much, and it was heartbreaking to have him develop Alzheimer’s disease, and to stand by and watch him decline in his ability to take care of himself.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Ability Alzheimer Heartbreaking Husband
What 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'CONNOR

Attention Firsts Media
The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Democracy Intimidation Judging
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
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.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Children Issues Want
I had become increasingly concerned in recent years about the lack of civics education in our nation’s schools. In recent years, the schools have stopped teaching it. And it’s unfortunate.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

School Teaching Years
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

Justice Philosophy Waiting
Slaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Leadership Procrastination Sports
We 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'CONNOR

Approved Today Use Years
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

Hope Politics Wonderful Years
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
[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'CONNOR

Decision Past Tough
[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
Unfortunately civility is hard to codify or legislate, but you know it when you see it. It’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Civility Conflict Manners
Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Learning Tasks Time
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

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.

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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.

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Popular Authors

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