Justice Sandra O'Connor Anyone...?

Question

How has Justice O'Connor used the Supreme Court's power of judicial review to promote her views
on federalism and civil liberties issues and what are the consequences for the Court and country

Answer 1

Sandra O'Connor was part of the federalism movement and approached each case as narrowly as possible, avoiding generalizations that might later "paint her into a corner" for future cases. Many critics of her tenure on the bench pointed out that her case-by-case approach to jurisprudence allowed her to make arbitrary decisions and shift her principles according to political expediency. Although she formed part of the conservative axis during the later years of the Burger Court, with the departure of the last members of the liberal Warren Court, she was later regarded as occupying the ideological center. It was both O'Connor's dedication to asserting her judicial power over that of other federal institutions and her pragmatic circumspection that gave her a deciding centrist vote for many of the Rehnquist Court's cases.