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'CONNORIt 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.
More Sandra Day O'Connor Quotes
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Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person.
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(W)e do not count heads before enforcing the First Amendment.
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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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Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.
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If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion.
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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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I 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.
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The power I exert on the court depends on the power of the power of my arguments, not my gender
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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.
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I’m a judge. It seemed to me that it was critical to try to take action to stem the criticism and help people understand that in the constitutional framework, it’s terribly important not to have a system of retaliation against decisions people don’t like.
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We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.
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