WASHINGTON – President Biden praised the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s “desire for civility” and “belief in the ability of human institutions to make life better” at her funeral Tuesday – recalling her presence at the first female justice’s confirmation hearing in 1981.
“More than 40 years ago, on a Wednesday in September 1981, the Senate Judiciary Committee made an order. I am the ranking member of the committee. The business of the day was the landmark nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first woman in American history to serve as a Supreme Court justice,” the 81-year-old president said.
“Announced his candidacy that summer, President [Ronald] Reagan described him as ‘a man for all seasons.’ And it was a man for all seasons that we saw at that trial and the American people and the world will see through his extraordinary service as a justice.”
O’Connor, who was confirmed 99-0 by the full Senate, went on to be the court’s deciding vote in more than 300 cases — including Bush v. Gore in 2000, which ended Florida’s presidential recount and ensured Republican George W. Bush a narrow victory over Democrat Al Gore.
The former judge died on December 1 at the age of 93.
President Biden delivers remarks during the funeral service for retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, December 19, 2023. REUTERS
“One need not agree with all his decisions to realize that his principles were deeply and supremely held and that his desire for civilization was genuine and that his faith in the capacity of human institutions to make life better was of this world. obey,” Biden said in an eight-minute speech inside the Washington National Cathedral, where his board of trustees O’Connor serves.
“How she embodied such qualities under such pressure and scrutiny helped empower a generation of women in every part of American life.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, who was originally slated to be O’Connor’s successor, recalled that he was tasked with supporting O’Connor’s nomination as a junior Justice Department attorney and said that 25 years later, O’Connor quipped about his initial nomination to replace him that ” the only problem is that I’m not wearing a skirt.”
Biden wiped his eyes at the memorial service. via REUTERS Biden bows his head in front of the casket of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Reuters
“My initial reaction, of course, is that everything is negotiable,” Roberts added with a laugh. “But luckily, it didn’t come to that.”
Roberts ended up serving with O’Connor on the court for four months when he was tapped by Bush to replace the late chief justice, William Rehnquist.
“In the last few weeks after Judge O’Connor’s death, I have spoken with many female judges and lawyers who were young adults when Judge O’Connor first came,” the chief said. “They’re saying the same thing — young people today can’t understand what it was like before Justice O’Connor, in what now seems like the distant past.
“That distance is a measure of time, but it is also a measure of Justice O’Connor’s life and work. In nearly a quarter of a century on the court, he was a powerfully influential and iconic jurist. His leadership shaped the legal profession, making it clear that judges are both women and men.
Chief Justice John Roberts attended the funeral service as guests walked beside his coffin. Reuters
Roberts added: “The time when women weren’t on the bench seems so far away, because Justice O’Connor was so good when she was on the bench. She was so successful that the barriers she broke are almost unthinkable today, but not so in her lifetime. “
O’Connor was an Arizona appeals court judge before Reagan selected him for the groundbreaking nomination. She is the most recent judge to have served in elected office, as a Republican state senator from 1969 to 1975. In 1973, she became the first woman to serve as majority leader of the state senate.
O’Connor announced her retirement in 2005 to care for her husband, John O’Connor, who died in 2009 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
He served more than 24 years on the Supreme Court by the time he left the bench in January 2006.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
