O’Connor’s Call to Arms

Last week former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to town, just a couple of days before her former job was back in the news with the announcement of John Paul Stevens's retirement.
When she was delivering her message, though, O'Connor had something different on her mind: how much an independent judiciary matters to America.
Even if most Americans have no idea what that means.
In remarks to the New York City Bar a week ago tonight, O’Connor laid it on the line in a straight-to-the point lecture at the bar headquarters on West 46th Street. She said Americans don’t much understand why it’s important for judges to be independent—and she called for an education campaign to change that ugly fact. This is one woman who is not happy with the study showing that two-thirds of Americans know the judges on “American Idol” but only 15 percent can identify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
“I say to you, New Yorkers…you have some work to do,” O’Connor said, urging the state to change its merit selection system. O’Connor weighed in against the election of judges, something that still happens throughout the U.S. “No other nation in the world has chosen to elect its judges,” she said.
O’Connor, 80, had some other complaints too: the “flood of money” that comes into judicial elections and the lack of civics classes for young people.
In 2008, O’Connor said, more than $5 million was spent in a race for the Alabama Supreme Court. At least one survey showed that 70 percent of the American people think judges are affected by campaign contributions—and more than one-quarter of judges themselves think the same thing. In her remarks, O’Connor spoke more than once of the courtroom being a much-needed “safe place” where citizens can expect their grievances to be heard fairly.
Another stat: one-third of Americans cannot name the three branches of government. “We can’t have that. That’s amazing,” O’Connor said. “We have to do something about it.”
What to do? O’Connor would like to see states switch away from elected judges, but more than that she called for a massive education effort. That would include old-fashioned civics lessons, but delivered in a 21st-century manner. She recommended www.ourcourts.org, which includes games about civics. She said the games have been a hit with young people.
“The interesting thing,” O’Connor said,” is that while they’re having fun, they’re learning. They don’t even know that they’re learning.”
O’Connor was introduced by New York’s own Judith Kaye, the former chief justice of the Court of Appeals. Kaye called O’Connor “practical and principled.” Then O’Connor went on to prove as much.