O'Connor's reputation in Republican politics in Arizona from her time in the Legislature also meant strong recommendations when the Reagan administration began inquiring about her. 25, 1981.īurger placed O'Connor on several national and international judicial panels that would raise her profile in legal circles. Supreme Court building in Washington, Sept. Sandra Day O'Connor and Chief Justice Warren Burger pose for pictures at the U.S. After the trip, Burger and his staffer talked about "how to make her better known." Driggs and his wife invited their friends Sandra and John O'Connor to join them on the excursion.Īccording to Thomas, Sandra O'Connor made an impression on Burger. They agreed Burger should spend time on a houseboat on Lake Powell. Before the trip, Burger's chief of staff reached out to his sister-in-law, the sister of former Phoenix Mayor John Driggs. In the summer of 1979, Burger attended a judicial conference in Arizona. Then there was a fortuitous friendship with Warren Burger, who was chief justice of the Supreme Court at the time. "He was a god among conservative lawyers." The houseboat on Lake Powell Rehnquist "came on strong for O'Connor," Hank Habicht, a member of the search committee, told Thomas. Rehnquist joined the Supreme Court in 1971 and, by 1981, was viewed as an influential conservative voice on the court when he quietly lobbied the Justice Department on her behalf. They remained friends after law school, even though O'Connor spurned his marriage proposal in 1952. William Rehnquist dated O'Connor when they were law school classmates at Stanford University in the early 1950s. He immediately supported her nomination and Goldwater's support, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee at a time when Reagan wanted a major defense buildup, was seen as politically valuable. It didn't hurt that DeConcini was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He quickly recommended her in a letter to Reagan, then let the media have it to raise pressure for her consideration. He had known O'Connor since the 1960s, recognized her careful legal thinking and knew she was as reasonable as a Democrat could hope for in a GOP Supreme Court nominee. Through her work in the state Attorney General's Office, she had gotten to know Dennis DeConcini, who in 1981 was Arizona's Democratic U.S. It was a pretty short list when you think about it as a practical matter." Her connections raised her profileīut O'Connor also had the kind of connections that would help any serious contender for the high court. "I think there was one other, and she was considered to be a bit dull. Republican women judges? There just weren't any," said Evan Thomas, author of "First," O'Connor's authorized biography. O'Connor arrived on the national scene at a time when female lawyers were rare and female judges, much less conservative ones, were ever rarer.
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