O'Connor retirement ends career of 'most powerful person in America'

Published: 2005-07-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The pending retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor from the Supreme Court has set in motion a battle over her replacement that will run through the summer, but it also highlights a remarkable judicial career. O'Connor's July 1 announcement that she would retire as soon as her replacement can be confirmed ends an era for not only the first woman on the Supreme Court but of someone who for years was "the most powerful person in America," as she was described by Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "She sits smack in the middle" of many crucial decisions made by the court since she was named to it in 1981, Chopko explained. Chopko said that O'Connor always took great pains to decide a case based on the facts of the individual case. That made it difficult to predict which side she would take, he said.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .