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November 27, 2007
Justice O’Connor Shares Upbringing, Promotes Role of Law in Democracy
Former justice believes educating citizens and understanding the process of law are vital.
Written by Leslie Cranford
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor returned to her West Texas roots to address law students at Texas Tech and the Lubbock community.
The solutions she brought during her tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court weren’t always popular, but they were practical, said Sandra Day O’Connor, who spoke to an audience of thousands Nov. 16 at the United Spirit Arena.
O’Connor came to Lubbock as the first guest of a new School of Law lecture series named after her.
The former justice spent part of the day speaking to law students and was honored at a luncheon at the National Ranching Heritage Center before speaking later to secondary school students, faculty, staff and residents.
World Peace Through Democracy and Law
In her evening lecture, she stressed her strong faith in democracy and the rule of law.
“The components of the rule of law – a democratically elected government promulgating rules that apply to majority and minority groups and enforced by a fair, impartial and independent judiciary – are of vital importance today, as they have been in the past,” she said. “It is these ideals that I think we have to follow and to build upon in the coming years. If we do that, I think we can see the promise of peace inherent in the rule of law come to fruition.”
In her discussion of the global role of a judiciary in democracy and law in the 21st century, she cited examples of Jim Crow laws and government internment for Japanese Americans during World War II as examples of how democratically elected governments can repress minorities.
“It's all too easy to confuse democracy with the simple right to vote,” she said. “I think we need to remember we don't inherit knowledge of how our government operates from the gene pool.”
O’Connor then called for mandatory civics and history courses in public schools, which she said have eroded in importance.
Lessons Learned on the Ranch
Her upbringing on a ranch that straddled the New Mexico and Arizona border prepared her for her work as the first woman appointed to the high court, said the 77-year old, who went to school in El Paso.
“I treasure my link with the arid Southwest,” said O’Connor. “The solutions we reached on the ranch had to be practical. They didn't have to be beautiful. They had to work.
“Maybe, just maybe, that's a little bit of what I brought to the court,” she said.
President Reagan named O’Connor to the Supreme Court in 1981, where she earned a reputation as a centrist, or having middle-of-the-road political views, during her quarter-century appointment. She retired from the court in 2006.
Arthur Miller, Law Professor at NYU, described the obstacles O'Connor faced after graduating law school.
O’Connor’s Influences on Alumni, American History
“Having Justice O’Connor at our law school was even more special than we anticipated it would be” said Law School Dean Walt Huffman. “Justice O’Connor was so gracious toward everyone and so generous in her time with our law students that it is easy to understand why everyone who knows her holds her in such high esteem,” Huffman said. “What is even more exciting is that thanks to the financial support of our distinguished law school alum Mark Lanier, this wonderful event was only the first in our annual Sandra Day O’Connor Distinguished Lecture Series.”
Huffman said Lanier also made the justice’s visit to Texas Tech possible, crediting him with inviting O’Connor and Arthur Miller, a university professor at the New York University School of Law, to speak at Texas Tech while sitting with them on a panel for a PBS television show.
In introducing O’Connor, Miller explained that although she received her law degree from Stanford University, practiced law in the private sector and served as a state judge in Arizona, she met many obstacles on her road to becoming a Supreme Court justice.
"Being a product of West Texas did not seem to make the grade, and the fact that she was a ranch girl, a cowgirl, did not make the grade,” he said. “She graduated law school, but she couldn’t get a job. It’s hard to remember how difficult it was for women in the legal profession when she graduated from law school.”
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