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'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.
More Sandra Day O'Connor Quotes
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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.
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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 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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Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person.
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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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(W)e do not count heads before enforcing the First Amendment.
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If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.
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It is a measure of the framers’ fear that a passing majority might find it expedient to compromise 4th Amendment values that these values were embodied in the Constitution itself.
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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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I think most people didn’t want to do court duty.
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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.
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Slaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.
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I don’t think it’s the court’s perceived role to do some explaining of a political nature.
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It was better for me when I was joined at the court by a second woman. When I was there alone, there was too much media focus on the one woman, and the minute we got another woman, that changed.
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Historically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
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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.
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Despite the encouraging and wonderful gains and the changes for women which have occurred in my lifetime, there is still room to advance and to promote correction of the remaining deficiencies and imbalances.
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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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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.
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The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.
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Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.
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Society 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.
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We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.
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I like to think that the court will continue to be held in high regard by the public. I think it should be.
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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.
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