The Power Broker

Conservative yet moderate, sticking up for Roe v. Wade and states' rights, she changed America one vote at a time. A look at her legacy

She will be remembered as perhaps the most powerful Supreme Court Justice in recent history. But to her clerks, Sandra Day O'Connor was most memorable for her thoughtfulness and utter lack of pretension. She wore a T shirt, for example, that proclaimed I'M SANDRA, NOT RUTH, to poke fun at advocates who would confuse the court's two female Justices. She attended her clerks' birthdays and weddings whenever she could; at one, she asked the groom's father for a ride. The car was packed, but when he tried to make her take the front seat, she insisted it go to his wife...

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