uly 1, 2005: NORTON PRAISES O'CONNOR AND CAUTIONS BIPARTISAN CONSULTATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2005

NORTON PRAISES O’CONNOR AND CAUTIONS BIPARTISAN CONSULTATION

Washington, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congressional Black Caucus Judicial Nominations Chair, issued the following statement on the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor:

“Women in the United States have special reason to be grateful for the 24-year service of Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. She never forgot that she was a woman and had experienced discrimination. Yet Justice O’Connor will be equally remembered for her historic role as the most influential member of the Court. O’Connor determined the direction of the Court on the most controversial issues of her day, including reproductive choice and affirmative action. She was a conservative who disappointed liberals more often than she saved them, but her independence won her wide respect nevertheless. O’Connor was a quintessential justice, committed only to interpretation of the rule of law and to the discipline of precedent.

“Appointed by Ronald Reagan, Justice O’Connor was the Court’s first woman but she was nobody’s woman but her own. President Bush would do well to follow the example of his mentor, President Reagan, in choosing a successor as distinguished and respected for following the law. He also would do well to follow the example of President Bill Clinton, who assiduously consulted with the leadership of both the majority and the minority of the Senate, and to remember that such prior consultation was one of the basic principles that held together the 14 Democratic and Republican senators who have just prevented a premature judicial war in the Senate. Consultation is the first and indispensable step toward the process the President wants.”