[Mb-civic] Justice O'Connor's Indelible Stamp - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Justice O'Connor's Indelible Stamp

By Viet Dinh

Sunday, July 3, 2005; Page B07

In the coming days, many will no doubt tout Sandra Day O'Connor as the 
pioneering first female Supreme Court justice. Most will point to her 
importance as the pivotal middle justice on a divided court. And some 
will accuse her of squandering her influence by not articulating and 
hewing to a unified theory of the law of their liking. In all this, the 
pundits may well be right in the description, but many will be wrong in 
ascribing merit or blame. Justice O'Connor is, quite simply, a great judge.

In 1995 I and my three co-clerks to O'Connor engaged in a heated 
discussion over some small point of law whose importance seemed 
transcendental at the time. This was the mother of all debates, several 
days of intense silences punctuated by heated discussions. The justice 
knew, of course, having carried awkward luncheon conversations and 
having interrupted several of our closed-door shouting matches. But she 
let us continue without intervention. The next morning, she handed us a 
two-page draft opinion -- concisely crafted, beautifully written and 
articulating a clear answer based on her writings and intimations in 
previous cases. Each of us combatants saw our conflicting points 
considered, answered or accommodated in her elegant draft. All that was 
left to do was to check the spelling, fill in the citations and go on 
with our coffee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/02/AR2005070200995.html
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