From the AP archive:
July 7, 1981

Reagan names first woman for Supreme Court

By JAMES GERSTENZANG
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan named Arizona judge Sandra D. O'Connor on Tuesday to become the first woman justice in the 191 years of the Supreme Court.

Mrs. O'Connor, 51, termed by Reagan "a person for all seasons," would fill the vacancy created by Justice Potter Stewart's retirement. And her selection as the court's 102nd justice, following 101 "Brethren," matches the president's campaign pledge to name a woman to one of the first vacancies.

Reagan called it "the most awesome appointment" within his power.

In Phoenix, Mrs. O'Connor told a news conference that "This is a momentous day in my life and the life of my family. I am extremely happy and honored to have been nominated by President Reagan for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court."

"If confirmed, I will do my best to serve the court and this nation in a manner that will bring credit to the president, to my family and to all the people of this great nation," she said.

In New York, former President Richard M. Nixon, for whom Mrs. O'Connor had served as Arizona campaign co-chairman in 1972, declared her selection "a dramatic breakthrough for women, the court and the nation."

The president announced his choice on a nationwide broadcast from the White House press room. He had decided upon Mrs. O'Connor following a personal interview with her last week in the Oval Office and a followup telephone call late Monday.

Reagan urged the Senate to give "swift bi-partisan confirmation" to her "so that, as soon as possible, she may take her seat on the court and her place in history." The court, now in recess, does not begin its 1981-82 term until October.

Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary, told reporters that Mrs. O'Connor was the only person that Reagan personally interviwed for the position. Speakes talked with reporters as Reagan flew to Chicago for a speech Tuesday night.

Aboard the same flight, Michael K. Deaver, the deputy chief of staff, was asked about the interview between Reagan and Mrs. O'Connor. Reagan was "impressed with her manner, the way she answered the questions and her kind of moderate approach." Pressed for more information about Reagan's reaction, Deaver said, "you know the president with a lady."

Asked why she was the only person Reagan interviewed, Deaver said, she "was the first one. It's like buying a car," he added jokingly.

Later, when he heard reporters planned to use the remark, Deaver said he would not talk with newsmen again aboard Air Force One if the comment was reported.

Once more is known about Mrs. O'Connor's positions, Deaver said, there will be less opposition. "One of the reasons President Reagan was attracted to her was when he looked at the total woman. She had not been an activist on either side. She had taken a moderate position."

Reagan flew to Chicago Tuesday afternoon for a speech to a GOP fund-raising dinner. In the prepared text of the speech distributed to reporters, Reagan inserted some additional remarks, saying that once Stewart told the White House about his retirement plans,"we began a search for a highly qualified woman who would serve this nation well ..."

Speakes, asked if Reagan considered only women for the post, said it was mistake for Reagan just to say women and that Reagan, in delivering the speech, would say, "a highly qualified person."

One source close to the White House had said several weeks earlier that the president was determined to find, regardless of sex, "another Rehnquist" - meaning a solid conservative young enough to serve on the high court for two decades or more. In Mrs. O'Connor, he found a jurist who not only is five years younger than Justice William H. Rehnquist, 56, but in fact was Rehnquist's classmate and fellow editor of the Stanford Law Review. Rehnquist, too, is an Arizonan.

Dean Charles Meyers of the Stanford Law School called Mrs. O'Connor "enormously able" with "good political understanding." One of her former professors, John Hurlbut, declared his "very, very high" regard for her work and said "she has all the qualifications for the job."

Some opposition already was brewing among the far right to her prospective nomination, which Reagan will not formally send to the Senate until an FBI background check is completed. Some conservatives object to her support, as an state senator several years ago, for a measure legalizing abortion -- and for another which would have submitted the Equal Rights Amendment to Arizona's voters.

Asked about Mrs. O'Connor's position on the extremely sensitive abortion issue, Reagan, who said he had interviewed the intended nominee, told reporters as he left the press room: "I am completely satisfied."

At her press conference, Mrs. O'Connor declined questions over that issue, the ERA and others, saying "I'm sorry. I cannot address myself to substantive issues pending my confirmation."

But deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said she had told the president "she is personally opposed to abortion and that it was especially abhorent to her. She also feels the subject of the regulation of abortion is a legitimate subject for the legislative area."

John Kolbe, political editor of the Phoenix Gazette, said "She does not have an image as being a drumbeater for ERA or abortion." A review of her decisions since she became a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979 showed that she is a scholarly and lucid writer, but offered little insight into her philosophy.

The nomination was saluted by Eleanor Smeal, president of the National Organization of Women, who said "we believe it's a victory for the women's movement."

"That she would be sympathetic to women's rights would be very significant" because recent Supreme Court votes on issues in this area have been close, Ms. Smeal said.

Iris Mitgang, head of the National Women's Political Caucus, declared that "Women are breaking the barrier of nearly 200 years of exclusion in decision-making in our nation. Justice O'Connor's nomination will be a major step in moving toward equal justice in every court in our land."

Cindy Maybeck, an NWPC spokeswoman, said the group was "satisfied" with Mrs. O'Connor's positions on "issues that are of concern to us" like "freedom of choice" on abortion and the ERA.

Reagan said "She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 'Brethren' who have preceded her."

By nominating Mrs. O'Connor, Reagan will fulfill a campaign pledge that one of the first justices he would nominate for the court would be a woman. But he said to appoint "a woman merely to do so" would not be fair "to women, nor to future generations of all Americans whose lives are so deeply affected by decisions of the court."

"Rather, I pledged to appoint a woman who meets the very high standards that I demand of all court appointees," he said.

"Without doubt the most awesome appointment ... a guarantee to us of so many things ... I can make," Reagan said.

"Those who sit on the Supreme Court interpret the laws of our land and truly do leave their footprints on the sands of time, long after the policies of presidents, senators and congressmen of any given era may have passed from public memory, they will be remembered."

He said he gave "very careful review and consideration" to his decision. The administration's search for Stewart's replacement began after it got word in late April that the justice would retire when the court's term ended last Thursday, according to Attorney General William French Smith.

Smith, who said that Mrs. O'Connor was chosen "because of her ideal qualifications and background" headed the administration's team searching for a nominee. Others involved in the deliberations included Edwin Meese III, the president's counselor, and White House counsel Fred Fielding

Smith said that a list of 20 to 25 possible nominees, including Mrs. O'Connor, was presented to Reagan in early June.

The attorney general, who along with Meese removed himself from consideration for the job, said he read each of the judge's opinions and discussed her judicial outlook "with a lot of people."

As an appellate judge, Smith said, Mrs. O'Connor "did not attempt to substitute her judgment for the trail court."

The president had made clear that he wanted to nominate someone who would interpret laws and not attempt to write new laws.

"She views the function of the judiciary to be to interpret the law, not to make it," the attorney general said in a news conference that followed the president's announcement.

The attorney general said the president and the judge met in the Oval Office on July 1.

He said he hoped the FBI checks could be completed so that the actual nomination could be sent to the Senate within fewer than four weeks.

The president wants the Senate to hold its hearings and vote on the nomination for Mrs. O'Connor to be on the bench by the first Monday in October when the next Supreme Court term begins.