Sandra Day O’Connor’s role as an influential conservative woman is storied
Sarah Allam | Illustration Editor
We can all learn from Sandra Day O’Connor’s career.
Sandra Day O’Connor recently announced her dementia diagnosis, prompting me to look back at her career and try to put into words her influence. As the first woman to be confirmed on the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in the country, Sandra Day O’Connor made history. She was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and resigned in 2006.
Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement that O’Connor was a “towering figure” and “role model not only for girls and women, but for all those committed to equal justice under law.”
She paved the way for not only women’s presence in the judiciary but also in politics.
When she was asked about her role as the first woman to serve on the highest court in America she would often reject the assumption that she had to do anything different than any other justice. She once noted “the power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender.”
O’Connor sought to prove that women were capable of serving on the court and being exceptional justices — she was a model of what the founding fathers hoped for when deciding to make terms for justice indefinite.
Even though she’s a conservative, she didn’t employ politics in her decisions. She stayed true to the constitution. And she regularly ruled against the party’s opinion in order to ensure the constitution was upheld.
We’ve seen increasing polarization and political terrorism in the past two years, so we can all look on to O’Connor’s career to remind ourselves of political reasonability. O’Connor is a role model for this in a time where it’s hard to find.
The court ought to be an example of how discourse can be productive, and O’Connor was a big part in maintaining that. In the wake of her announcement, it’s imperative that we consider how important it is to put people with integrity in positions of power, and how much it pays off.
Harrison Garfinkle is a communication and rhetorical studies major. His column runs biweekly. He can be reached at hgarfink@syr.edu.
Published on October 31, 2018 at 9:46 pm
