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Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
The No Child Left Behind Program was an incentive to the schools to get their kids up to snuff on math and science and reading.
Sandra Day O'Connor
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We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
What the framers of the Constitution tried to achieve when they wrote that Constitution back in the 1700s was an independent federal judiciary. They wanted federal judges to be appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and to serve for good behavior.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
There was no hostility at the court when I arrived.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
How dare you make my life a felony.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
Yes, I will bring the understanding of a woman to the Court, but I doubt that alone will affect my decisions.
Sandra Day O'Connor
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Cyberspace undeniably reflects some form of geography.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that they can make things happen.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
I think it's inevitable that some of the court's decisions will be found by a segment of the public to be not the right decision or subject to criticism.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
The more education a woman has, the wider the gap between men's and women's earnings for the same work.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
The destiny of the woman must be shaped to a large extent on her own conception of her spiritual imperative and her place in society.
Sandra Day O'Connor
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The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
My concerns through the years increased about the concerns of an independent judiciary and how we maintain it. Certainly in the states. I'm a product of state government in my own state of Arizona. And it seemed to me that the popular election of judges was creating major problems in many states, and we had improved the system in Arizona. And I thought the nation ought to at least rethink how we select our nation's trial judges in the states.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
It is true that as you have children, there are a good many months when you don't want to be working full-time. I agree that that's an issue.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
Suppose you had a cross burning in a play or a movie... Would that be intimidating?
Sandra Day O'Connor -
It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. Thats set out in the Constitution.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
Be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.
Sandra Day O'Connor
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The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
Historically courts in this country have been insulated. We do not look beyond our borders for precedents.
Sandra Day O'Connor -
You have to answer the question, like it or not. And the questions deserve a valid legal response, even if the response isn't one that will be easily understood. You have an obligation as a member of the court to do what you are bound to do under federal law, even if it isn't an attractive resolution from a public standpoint.
Sandra Day O'Connor