O'Connor, First Woman
on High Court,
Resigns After 24
Years
By RICHARD W.
STEVENSON and DAVID STOUT, NYTimes on the Web, July 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 1 -Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme
Court, announced today that she was resigning, setting off what is expected to
be a tumultuous fight over confirming her successor.
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Dennis Brack/European
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Justice O'Connor, 75, is widely
viewed as the critical swing vote on abortion, affirmative action and other
hot-button issues that have divided the court, and her departure is sure to
ignite a passionate ideological battle throughout the summer over a successor.
Her departure, which had been the subject of rumors for weeks but was still a
surprise, will give President Bush his first opportunity to name a justice.
The retirement of Justice O'Connor creates the first vacancy on the court in 11
years, ending the longest period without a change in the lineup of justices in
almost two centuries.
It is still not clear whether Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist, who is battling thyroid cancer and had been widely
expected to resign, will step down this summer, giving Mr. Bush still another
seat to fill -- and raising the prospect of a rightward turn in the court's
orientation for many years to come.
Chief Justice Rehnquist has been the subject of months of speculation, while
talk of Justice O'Connor's possible departure had been much quieter. But
it was clear that her announcement was not a total shock: the Senate
majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, read a tribute to her on the Senate
floor minutes after the announcement, and it was clear that his statement had
been prepared.
In a letter sent this morning to the White House, Justice O'Connor said she
would step down as soon as the president named a successor.
"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have served as a member of the court
for 24 terms," she said in the three-sentence letter. "I will leave it
with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our
constitutional structure."
President Bush said he would select a nominee "in a timely manner" so that a new
justice could be on the bench when the court reconvenes in October. "I
will be deliberate and thorough in this process," Mr. Bush said in a brief
appearance at the White House.
The president said he hoped for a "dignified" confirmation process, and that he
would consult with members of the Senate on his pick. But Mr. Bush also
said he wanted his choice to have "fair treatment, a fair hearing and a fair
vote." Those words seemed to allude to parliamentary tactics that
Democrats have employed to block or delay confirmation votes on several of his
nominees for federal appellate courts. The president's comments also
signaled that he planned to name a conservative to fill Justice O'Connor's seat,
and thus tilt the court further to the right.
Several names have been circulated in recent months as a possible Bush nominee
for any slot that opened on the court. They include Judge John G. Roberts
of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit;
Judges J. Michael Luttig and J. Harvie Wilkinson III, both of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond; Judge Michael W. McConnell
of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, and Judge
Edith Brown Clement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,
in New Orleans.
Another name mentioned as a possibility is that of Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales, who would be the first Hispanic nominee for the high court. Nor
would it be surprising if the president encounters pressure to replace Justice
O'Connor with a woman. (There is one other woman on the court, Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton and is widely
considered part of the court's liberal wing.)
Justice O'Connor's decision took some allies of the White House by surprise.
"An O'Connor resignation was not one we took seriously," said C. Boyden Gray, a
former White House counsel, who founded the Committee for Justice, one of the
advocacy groups set to back whoever the president nominates.
Mr. Gray received a text message during an interview with The New York Times at
his Georgetown home shortly after 9:30 this morning informing him of Justice
O'Connor's resignation.
"It makes me nervous," he said. "I'm not sure we are as prepared for an
O'Connor vacancy."
One of the liberal groups expected to be active in the looming confirmation
battle, People for the American Way, said the choice of Justice O'Connor's
successor would represent a critical moment. "Justice O'Connor has been
the most important figure on the court in recent years," said Ralph G. Neas,
president of the group. "Her replacement will have a monumental impact on
the lives and freedoms of Americans for decades to come."
Mr. Neas urged the president to engage in bipartisan consultations with the
Senate before settling on a nominee and to reject pressure from conservatives
for an ideological nominee. Conservatives have never gotten over the
Senate's rejection of Robert H. Bork in 1987.
Mr. Bork, a former solicitor general of the United States and a judge on the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when he was
nominated for the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan, was unapologetic in
expressing his conservative views during confirmation hearings.
Conservatives have long complained that Mr. Bork was highly qualified to sit on
the high court, and was turned back only because his views were unpalatable to
some liberal lawmakers.
Justice O'Connor's announcement brought bipartisan praise for her tenure.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, called her "an historic figure on the Supreme Court in many ways,"
while Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, the minority leader, referred to
her as "an inspirational figure to all Americans."
Justice O'Connor survived breast cancer in the late 1980's, and her husband,
John, has been ill. President Bush said all Americans should be proud of
her service, "and I'm proud to know her."
Senator Specter said at a Capitol news briefing that his committee "is prepared
to proceed at any time" on confirmation hearings. Asked whether he thought
it would be prudent for the president to replace Justice O'Connor with another
centrist, Mr. Specter said: "That's the president's prerogative. I'm
going to leave it to him."
Senator Reid made it clear that he and his Democratic colleagues were prepared
for a bruising confirmation battle. "Working with the Senate, the
president should identify a highly qualified candidate whose views are within
the broad constitutional mainstream and who will make all Americans proud," he
said. "With this nomination, the president should choose to unite the
country, not divide it. I look forward to working with the president and
my colleagues in the Senate to fill this critical vacancy."
Justice O'Connor was born in El Paso and grew up in Arizona. She served in
the Arizona State Senate in the early 1970's and is the only current member of
the Supreme Court to have held elective office. In one of her last public
appearances, with Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen G. Breyer at a panel
discussion in April, she was asked for her reaction to criticism from some
conservative Republican congressmen about "activist judges."
"This isn't new," she replied matter-of-factly, noting that there had been many
episodes of lawmakers (or presidents) berating one court or another in moments
of political passion.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting from Washington for
this article, and Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York.
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