Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Trends Toward Judicial Restraint

September 1985

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Trends Toward Judicial Restraint
ITEM DETAILS
Type: Law review article
Author: Barbara Olson Bruckmann (student author)
Source: Wash. & Lee L. Rev.
Citation: 42 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1185 (1985)

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JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: TRENDS TOWARD JUDICIAL RESTRAINT

Sandra Day O'Connor began her tenure on the United States Supreme Court without an extensive record as a jurist.1 The substantive impact O'Connor would make on Supreme Court decisions was uncertain when she took the bench. Prior to her nomination in 1981 to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, however, O'Connor favored limiting the jurisdiction of federal courts and enhancing the states' role in the federal system2. During her confirmation hearings before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, O'Connor testified without reservation con cerning her judicial philosophy.3 In the confirmation hearings, O'Connor confirmed her support of federal judicial restraint.4 According to O'Connor, the Court should not function as a policy making body, but rather should interpret and apply the law.5 In O'Connor's view, the Court should decide cases on narrow grounds6 and avoid unnecessarily deciding questions of constitutional law.7 O'Connor's testimony on the proper role of the federal judiciary, however, was not limited to the role of the Court as a branch of the federal government, but extended to the relationship of the federal court system to state courts. In response to questions regarding an article8 written by O'Connor in which she explored the relationship between the state and federal courts, O'Connor clarified her belief in the capacity of state courts

l. See Nomination of Sandra Day

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