The personal Sandra Day O'Connor: A backstage force and front stage star
For those too young to remember, Sandra Day O'Connor was so admired on the public stage that there were even suggestions she run for president. She had no interest in that, but her vote and her approach to judging dominated the U.S Supreme Court for a quarter of a century, until her retirement.
Whether the subject was affirmative action, states' rights, campaign finance, national security or abortion, hers was often the voice that spoke for the court. That voice embodied a restrained and cautious approach to judging --deferential, where possible, to the other elected branches of government, and loath to making broad pronouncements.
She was tough, bossy, relentless, and beneath that, she could be emotional. In private, she was not afraid to cry--and she had a soft spot for others when they needed it, according to Evan Thomas, author of First, Sandra Day O'Connor: An Intimate Portrait of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice.
Learning Life Lessons Early
O'Connor learned to be independent and to "suck it up" early in life. Home was her parents' cattle ranch, the second largest in Arizona, 160,000 acres, one-fifth the size of Rhode Island.
It was "like our own country," she would say. But it was an unforgiving country with no heat and no running water.
She was just 6 years old when her parents sent her four hours away by train to live with her less-than-warm-and-fuzzy grandmother in El Paso, Texas, so she could go to
