Face The State Staff Report
DENVER—With former U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton among attendees, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provided a noontime lecture Wednesday to a packed house at the University of Denver’s law school.
After a standing ovation, O’Connor opened a brief 15-minute speech describing herself as “now just an unemployed cowgirl.” She shared personal struggles, including the difficulties she had getting a job after law school graduation. She also advised students in attendance that one of the most important skills a lawyer could learn is “how to stay out of court.”
Since stepping down from her Supreme Court post last January, O’Connor said that she has committed herself to spending as much time as possible addressing public concerns about the judicial branch. “There has been no lack of resolutions concerning federal courts,” she said, specifically referring to South Dakota’s recent “jail for judges” effort. She also identified a Colorado 2006 ballot initiative that would have instituted state judicial term limits. Championed by former state Senate President John Andrews, R-Centennial, it was turned down by voters. Andrews recently announced that he will be back with a modified effort in 2008.
O'Connor condemned the efforts of reformers like Andrews, saying “perhaps many of our citizens have forgotten why we have a courts and judges and why they matter.” She suggested the resolutions were an effort to infringe upon the powers granted to the judicial branch by America’s founders.
“It’s the essence of our system of system that a court, the U.S. Supreme Court or another court, might decide an issue that one or both of the other branches don’t like,” she said. “But if we don’t (make decisions that the other branches don’t like) every once in a while, we probably aren’t doing our job.”
When informed of O'Connors remarks, Andrews defended his efforts and was critical of O'Connor's views on the judicary. "In suggesting the judiciary can do no wrong, O'Connor reminds me of that old cowboy warning: Never ask a barber if you need a haircut," he said. "Her purported trump card on 'intent of the founders' actually argues for more accountability in Colorado's judicial branch."
Andrews called his 2006 campaign to limit some state judges to two four-year terms and his 2008 proposed effort to limit all state judges to three four-year terms "a reasonable response to too much legislating from the bench."
After discussing judicial reform, audience members were allowed to pose questions to O'Connor. When asked if she had any regrets about retiring, O'Connor said she had none, saying she made the decision to move back to Arizona from Washington, D.C. to care for her husband of more than 50 years, who is now suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. “His needs came first in my book,” she said.