

See Joan Biskupic, Sandra Day O’Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice 82–83, 98 (2005) (noting O’Connor’s description of the intense environment around her after her nomination and her observation that she “couldn’t move without a battery of television cameras following every step” (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Interview by KAET Horizon with Sandra Day O’Connor, Assoc.
#FACTS ABOUT SANDRA DAY O CONNOR FULL#
She was confirmed by the full Senate 99-0 and emerged from the proceedings as the first celebrity Supreme Court Justice. 3, 2020), (on file with the Columbia Law Review). Helen Coster, Super Bowl TV Audience Rises Slightly to 99.9 Million Viewers, Reuters (Feb.

CloseĪbout the same number of people that tuned in for Super Bowl LIV on February 2, 2020. When she appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1981, 100 million Americans watched on television, 5 5Įvan Thomas, First: Sandra Day O’Connor 141 (2019). In her day, however, O’Connor touched a chord that resonated with a wide and varied audience. a rebuke to Trumpism and the America we currently inhabit . . . .”). Mag.: Intelligencer (July 8, 2019), (“elebration of their victory felt like . . . Will Leitch, A National Team for the Trump Era, N.Y. women’s national soccer team angered some vocal groups in the United States last year while they triumphed in the World Cup competition. 20, 2017), (on file with the Columbia Law Review) Karen Given, Athletes Take a Leading Role in Black Lives Matter Protests, WBUR: Only a Game (June 5, 2020), Deena Zaru, Why Athletes Are Getting More Political in the Age of Trump, CNN (Aug. See, e.g., Christopher Clarey, In 2017, Many Athletes Found Their Voices, N.Y.
#FACTS ABOUT SANDRA DAY O CONNOR PROFESSIONAL#
CloseĮntertainers and professional athletes often feel compelled to “choose sides.” 3 3 & Gallup, Inc., American Views 2020: Trust, Media and Democracy-A Deepening Divide 5, 9, 30–31 (2020), Matthew Ingram, Most Americans Say They Have Lost Trust in the Media, Colum. Journalists and nightly news anchors no longer serve as shared sources of information.

This problem extends beyond the familiar, rancorous spaces occupied by the branches of government. May be the last such public person-an icon able to transcend partisan polarization. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who joined the Supreme Court as the first woman Justice in 1981 and retired in 2006, 1 1 It was even possible to earn the trust of those with whom one disagreed. Once upon a time in American public life, there were figures who achieved universal admiration.
