IN MEMORIAM
on Dec 18, 2023
at 1:06 pm
The casket of the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor within the Nice Corridor of the Supreme Court docket (Mark Walsh)
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor returned to Washington to lie in repose within the Nice Corridor of the U.S. Supreme Court docket constructing on Monday, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor lauded O’Connor as “her life position mannequin” and one who was “was devoted to creating a greater world, and that’s what she did.”
“For a few years, the best way Sandra went, the courtroom adopted, and that was for a easy purpose,” Sotomayor mentioned. “Sandra approached every case with unbelievable thoughtfulness and sought to reach at a sensible conclusion. She by no means disregarded the realities of our nation.”
“The nation was effectively served by the regular hand and mind of a justice who by no means overlooked how the legislation affected atypical folks,” Sotomayor mentioned.
O’Connor’s casket was escorted into the courtroom constructing and onto the Lincoln Catafalque, the platform constructed in 1865 to help the late president’s casket whereas his physique lay in state within the U.S. Capitol, by an honor guard of the Supreme Court docket police pressure.
Each sitting member of the courtroom was current for the somber ceremony, as was retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Jane Roberts, Virginia Thomas, and Ashley Kavanaugh had been current among the many spouses of present justices, whereas Mary Kennedy, Maureen Scalia (the widow of the late Justice Antonin Scalia), and Cathleen Douglas Stone (the widow of the late Justice William O. Douglas) had been additionally right here. Retired Justices Stephen Breyer and David Souter weren’t current.
Justice O’Connor’s three sons, Scott, Brian, and Jay O’Connor, had been current with their wives, and the seven grandchildren of O’Connor and her late husband, John O’Connor, served as honorary pallbearers.
The Rev. Jane Fahey, who served as a legislation clerk to O’Connor within the 1982-83 time period throughout a 20-year authorized profession earlier than changing into a Presbyterian minister within the Atlanta space, led the prayers and gave a memory.
O’Connor was “a trusted courtroom colleague, a cherished mentor, a pal, and trailblazing inspiration to many,” Fahey mentioned. “Most of us gathered right here had been a part of her courtroom household. And this house, this constructing was a form of holy house for us, the place the place we had our most sustained interactions together with her.”
Fahey famous the justice’s insistence that her clerks get out of the constructing to get pleasure from Washington’s cherry blossoms within the spring, and she or he described how a forecast of rain didn’t deter plans for an outside picnic.
“Undeterred—certainly thrilled by rain!—and formed little question by her father’s instruction that in ranching life one must be ready for something—she merely introduced alongside giant umbrellas and oil material blankets for our rain-soaked picnic across the tidal basin,” Fahey mentioned.
Fahey mentioned that O’Connor as soon as indulged a clerk’s request to photocopy her hand to make an indication that was posted in her chambers that learn, “For a pat on the again, lean right here.”
A portrait of the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor within the Nice Corridor on the Supreme Court docket (Mark Walsh)
Fahey added, “She formed us by her classes in significant work, loving relationship, and zest for all times.”
Sotomayor referred to an outline of O’Connor by Justice Clarence Thomas, who served 15 1/2 phrases together with her, as “the glue of this courtroom.”
“I agree,” Sotomayor mentioned. “She introduced us all collectively, even after she retired. The primary day I got here to work on this constructing, Sandra was at my workplace door to welcome me to the courtroom.”
She had revitalized the justices’ follow of consuming lunch collectively after arguments and conferences. “The collegiality of the courtroom, Sandra defined, was important to getting our work executed in a fashion the nation would respect,” Sotomayor mentioned.
She highlighted a few of O’Connor’s extracurricular actions, each throughout and after her lively service, equivalent to pushing for the benefit collection of state judges and advancing the rule of legislation in former Soviet bloc international locations. However Sotomayor gave particular consideration to O’Connor’s devotion to enhancing civic training. (Sotomayor herself has served on the board of iCivics, the group based by O’Connor to create academic video games and lesson plans.)
“She noticed our nation’s civil discourse breaking down and believed strongly that we’d lose our democracy if we didn’t train civics to our youthful generations,” Sotomayor mentioned. “Sandra famously mentioned, the follow of democracy will not be handed down within the gene pool. It have to be taught and discovered by every era.”
Sotomayor concluded by stating what O’Connor had as soon as instructed an interviewer she wished on her tombstone: “Right here lies a very good choose.”
“Sure, Sandra, you can be remembered that means,” Sotomayor mentioned. “However a full epitaph would learn, ‘Right here lies a very good choose, spouse, mom, grandmother, sister, pal, and above all else, a human being, extraordinary.’”
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, got here to the courtroom to pay their respects slightly in a while Monday morning, with Harris bowing her head in silent prayer at O’Connor’s casket after which the pair admiring the portrait of O’Connor by Danni Dawson arrange on an easel towards the east finish of the Nice Corridor.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, pay respects to the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Mark Walsh)
With police honor guard members and two former O’Connor clerks at a time standing at consideration, members of the general public steadily streamed previous the casket and portrait as effectively.
O’Connor may have a personal funeral ceremony at Washington’s Nationwide Cathedral on Tuesday morning.
(Correction: An earlier model of this story omitted that retired Justice Stephen Breyer additionally didn’t attend Monday’s ceremony on the courtroom.)
