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PHOTO BY RANDY HOEFT/YUMA SUNAUTHOR AND FORMER U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor talks to the audience inside the Kofa High School auditorium Tuesday.Sandra Day O'Connor visits Kofa High SchoolFormer Supreme Court justice gives presentation presented by Friends of Yuma County LibrariesBY CHRIS MCDANIEL@YS_C_MCDANIELSandra Day O’Connor served for 25 years as a justice on the US. Supreme Court, a position she didn’t feel comfortable accepting at first.When President Ronald Reagan phoned her in 1981 to tell her she was the first woman in the history of the country to be appointed as a Supreme Court justice, “frankly, my heart sankbecause it is wonderful to be the first to do something, but I didn’t want to be the last woman,” she said during a presentation at Kofa High School Tuesday night for Friends of Yuma CountyLibraries.“I thought if I couldn’t do the job effectively, I might be the last, and I wasn’t confident I could do the job well.”But with encouragement from herhusband, John, she accepted the position.It was a one-of-a-kind job ... but the court was quite divided when I joined it. They were very inclined to split 5-to-4 on cases, and they needed a ninth person on the court so the court could make decisions.”Over the next 25 years, the first woman justice would preside over many cases, including two controversial cases brought before the court concerning the election results in the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and A1 Gore.“That was not a happy time to be in the court, and to try and decide an issue that would have such a strong effect onSEEOCONNOR/A7
Newspaper Details
Yuma Sun
Yuma, Arizona, US
Wed, Dec 07, 2011
Page 1
Full Page
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Yuma C.
AZ, USA 27 Oct 2020
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