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The late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor performed a key position in a number of the Supreme Courtroom’s main selections throughout her almost 25 years on the bench. Here’s a take a look at a number of of these circumstances involving the primary girl to serve on the Courtroom, together with selections concerning the First Modification, the Fifth Modification, affirmative motion, abortion, and the tenth Modification.
County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union (1989)
On this case, determined along with two different circumstances, Chabad v. ACLU and Metropolis of Pittsburgh v. ACLU of Higher Pittsburgh, a 5-4 majority dominated {that a} vacation show inside a courthouse that includes solely a nativity scene was unconstitutional, whereas a 6-3 majority stated an out of doors show with a Chanukah menorah and Christmas Tree was permissible. Justice O’Connor stated in her concurrence that “[e]very authorities observe have to be judged in its distinctive circumstances to find out whether or not it constitutes an endorsement or disapproval of faith.”
Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
In a 5-4 ruling, a divided courtroom upheld Roe v. Wade (1973), and Justice O’Connor, together with Justices Anthony Kennedy and David Souter, wrote the joint controlling opinion about abortion rights. “After contemplating the elemental constitutional questions resolved by Roe, rules of institutional integrity, and the rule of stare decisis, we’re led to conclude this: the important holding of Roe v. Wade must be retained and as soon as once more reaffirmed,” the three justices wrote. The choice in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group (2022) overturned Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey.
New York v. United States (1992)
Justice O’Connor wrote the 6-3 majority opinion in a case concerning the respective roles of the federal authorities and the states underneath the tenth Modification. New York state objected to a federal regulation that required it to control radioactive waste administration underneath the federal authorities’s route. “Whereas Congress has substantial energy underneath the Structure to encourage the States to supply for the disposal of the radioactive waste generated inside their borders, the Structure doesn’t confer upon Congress the power merely to compel the States to take action,” O’Connor concluded.
Bush v Gore (2000)
Justice O’Connor was one in all 5 justices who denied a request for a recount within the 2000 presidential election. Within the per curiam opinion of the Courtroom, the Justices stated closing dates set by federal regulation didn’t permit Florida to finish a recount within the presidential election in a constitutionally legitimate approach. Justice O’Connor didn’t signal on to a concurrence within the case, however her vote denying the request, together with Justice Anthony Kennedy’s, had been essential within the final result.
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
In one other 5-4 determination, Justice O’Connor wrote the bulk opinion on this landmark case about affirmative motion. The bulk upheld the College of Michigan Regulation Faculty’s coverage of racial preferences in scholar admissions. O’Connor stated the coverage met “a compelling curiosity in acquiring the tutorial advantages that movement from a various scholar physique” and didn’t battle with the 14th Modification.
Virginia v. Black (2003)
On this case, three males contested a Virginia regulation that made burning a cross a criminal offense by itself, with out unmistakable proof that the act was made to intimidate folks. In her majority opinion, Justice O’Connor wrote that “whereas a State, in step with the First Modification, might ban cross burning carried out with the intent to intimidate, the availability within the Virginia statute treating any cross burning as prima facie proof of intent to intimidate renders the statute unconstitutional in its present kind.”
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the 6-3 majority opinion on this landmark case, which held a Texas regulation making it a criminal offense for 2 individuals of the identical intercourse to have interaction in sexual conduct violated the 14th Modification’s Due Course of Clause. O’Connor, becoming a member of the bulk, wrote a separate concurrence to say that the 14th Modification’s Equal Safety Clause additionally got here into play. “A regulation branding one class of individuals as legal solely based mostly on the State’s ethical disapproval of that class and the conduct related to that class runs opposite to the values of the Structure and the Equal Safety Clause,” she wrote.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)
Justice O’Connor wrote the plurality determination within the case of Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen detained as an enemy combatant throughout a battle with the Taliban in 2001. O’Connor wrote that though Congress permitted the detention of combatants in slender circumstances, in Hamdi’s case, his Fifth Modification due course of rights had been violated. The Structure, she stated, “calls for {that a} citizen held in the USA as an enemy combatant be given a significant alternative to contest the factual foundation for that detention earlier than a impartial decisionmaker.”
McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky (2005)
On this case, the American Civil Liberties Union sued a Kentucky county after it posted three variations of the ten Commandments in courthouses and public colleges. Justice David Souter wrote the 5-4 majority opinion. In her concurrence, O’Connor once more acknowledged her perception in a check that sought to forestall the federal government’s help of 1 faith over one other. “The aim behind the counties’ show is related as a result of it conveys an unmistakable message of endorsement to the cheap observer,” she wrote.
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