Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is AMAZING!!!! I skipped my poli sci to go see her only to find my TA from that class also in attendance. I figured if anyone was seriously interested in political science they would make an effort to come see her.
O'Connor is a small hunched over lady who wears a lot of purple business suits. She has a fifties cut to her thinning white hair that flips up at the bottom in a very old-lady sort of way. She doesn't use a cane but her walk in slightly impaired by age. Her voice, however, is not softened by age. Her speech was clear as day and when she got ticked off (which was AWESOME) her posture and appearance dropped 50 years and you easily see the young vibrant woman she always was who got by on only her intelligence and spunk.
She started off with a very lame joke about Miami basketball that would have put my own Grandmother's jokes to shame. Her speech contained mostly reverences to Thomas Jefferson's opinion of women in politics and Supreme Court decisions concerning equality and civil rights. It sounded like a semi-interesting history lesson on the history of civil liberities in the USA. Had she been a history teacher at any university I would have listened with one ear open and copied down some notes like a good little student-drone. It was only the fact that she was an Supreme Court Justice that kept the audience in rapture the whole time she talked. My friend Emily, who also skipped poli sci to be there, fell asleep have way through the lecture on her hand. While O'Connor was touching on the effects of Plessy vs Ferguson on subsequent court decisions, Emily's elbow slipped from its support, almost letting her forehead touch the armrest. She woke up with a muffled squeal which turned heads from three rows away.
O'Connor finished with a short conclusion about how she felt that the USA was progressing towards a bright future with the aid of the teachings of the framers, despite their lack of appriciation of current policies. Everyone stood up and clapped and shook themselves awake. The president of the university informed that audience that O'Connor would now take a few questions. This is where it got really good.
One poor soul asked whether a liberal court would be better for progress than a conservative one. O'Connor got than a couple laughes by replying "I think you just want a good Supreme Court, whatever it is. Maybe nine people with a little sense."
My poor TA was next, asking whether O'Connor's legacy on the court would be as the "swing voter". O'Connor reply came biting and blunt. "I don't know what a swing voter is. That isn't a term I apply to myself." I choked back a laugh on that one. I felt so bad for my TA but O'Connor pissed off is something incredible to see.
And to the person who asked if she had suggestions for a young woman pursing a law career: "Learn to read fast and write well." The whole auditorium howled after that one.
And finally, to the last question of the night, when a woman asked about partial-birth abortion and how reproductive rights fit into the constitution, O'Connor didn't hesitate.
She wasn't going to address a case the court is considering, she said. She addressed similar issues in the past, "and you will go read them," she said, "and find out what I said." Who knew O'Connor was such as smart ass?
Anyway, I now love that woman with a my heart and my greatest regret of the evening was that I didn't get to hug her after she was finished. I would have loved to hear what her response to that would have been.
Don't the smile fool you, this woman is 110 pounds of cold steel. Her sarcasm can cut through titanium bars.
Egos everywhere beware, cause there is nothing worse than getting your head cut off by an old lady with a microphone.
O'Connor is a small hunched over lady who wears a lot of purple business suits. She has a fifties cut to her thinning white hair that flips up at the bottom in a very old-lady sort of way. She doesn't use a cane but her walk in slightly impaired by age. Her voice, however, is not softened by age. Her speech was clear as day and when she got ticked off (which was AWESOME) her posture and appearance dropped 50 years and you easily see the young vibrant woman she always was who got by on only her intelligence and spunk.
She started off with a very lame joke about Miami basketball that would have put my own Grandmother's jokes to shame. Her speech contained mostly reverences to Thomas Jefferson's opinion of women in politics and Supreme Court decisions concerning equality and civil rights. It sounded like a semi-interesting history lesson on the history of civil liberities in the USA. Had she been a history teacher at any university I would have listened with one ear open and copied down some notes like a good little student-drone. It was only the fact that she was an Supreme Court Justice that kept the audience in rapture the whole time she talked. My friend Emily, who also skipped poli sci to be there, fell asleep have way through the lecture on her hand. While O'Connor was touching on the effects of Plessy vs Ferguson on subsequent court decisions, Emily's elbow slipped from its support, almost letting her forehead touch the armrest. She woke up with a muffled squeal which turned heads from three rows away.
O'Connor finished with a short conclusion about how she felt that the USA was progressing towards a bright future with the aid of the teachings of the framers, despite their lack of appriciation of current policies. Everyone stood up and clapped and shook themselves awake. The president of the university informed that audience that O'Connor would now take a few questions. This is where it got really good.
One poor soul asked whether a liberal court would be better for progress than a conservative one. O'Connor got than a couple laughes by replying "I think you just want a good Supreme Court, whatever it is. Maybe nine people with a little sense."
My poor TA was next, asking whether O'Connor's legacy on the court would be as the "swing voter". O'Connor reply came biting and blunt. "I don't know what a swing voter is. That isn't a term I apply to myself." I choked back a laugh on that one. I felt so bad for my TA but O'Connor pissed off is something incredible to see.
And to the person who asked if she had suggestions for a young woman pursing a law career: "Learn to read fast and write well." The whole auditorium howled after that one.
And finally, to the last question of the night, when a woman asked about partial-birth abortion and how reproductive rights fit into the constitution, O'Connor didn't hesitate.
She wasn't going to address a case the court is considering, she said. She addressed similar issues in the past, "and you will go read them," she said, "and find out what I said." Who knew O'Connor was such as smart ass?
Anyway, I now love that woman with a my heart and my greatest regret of the evening was that I didn't get to hug her after she was finished. I would have loved to hear what her response to that would have been.
Don't the smile fool you, this woman is 110 pounds of cold steel. Her sarcasm can cut through titanium bars.
Egos everywhere beware, cause there is nothing worse than getting your head cut off by an old lady with a microphone.