The Singular Swing Vote

“Justice O’Connor was referred to, accurately, as the most powerful woman in America. Very little could happen without Justice O’Connor’s support when it came to the polarizing issues on the court’s docket, and the law regarding affirmative action, abortion, voting rights, religion, federalism, sex discrimination and other hot-button subjects was basically what Sandra Day O’Connor thought it should be. That the middle ground she looked for tended to be the public’s preferred place as well was no coincidence, given the close attention Justice O’Connor paid to current events and the public mood. ‘Rare indeed is the legal victory — in court or legislature — that is not a careful byproduct of an emerging social consensus.'” (That, for the record, is not the doctrine that drives the current court.) NYT (Gift Article): Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court, Is Dead at 93.

+ William H. Rehnquist served as chief justice during much of O’Connor’s tenure. They were also classmates at Stanford Law. An interesting sidenote: They dated in school and Rehnquist even proposed. Sadly for William, Sandra Day had the swing vote. O’Connor, Rehnquist And A Supreme Marriage Proposal.