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Sandra Day O'Connor, Well Judged
"To my sorrow, I am now what she was her first 12 years on the court -- the lone woman."
Roberts described how the courtroom could fill with well-spun "flights of fancy," and O'Connor could be counted on to bring things down to earth with: "Well, this case is about X, isn't it? I think we might hear something about that this morning."
  Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, very much the center of attention last night at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. (By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post) |
Ginsburg and her husband, Martin, who filled up one side of a cocktail napkin with notes as the evening wore on, sat at a table with Roberts, his wife, Jane, and White House counsel Harriet Miers, President Bush's foiled nominee to replace O'Connor.
O'Connor and her husband, John, sat on the other side of the stage with Candice Owens, the third-year law student at the University of the District of Columbia who is the first recipient of the NAWJ's $2,500 Justice Sandra Day O'Connor scholarship.
Everyone else stood, and those near the tables crowded in tightly enough to see, for example, that the bald spot atop John Roberts's head is shaped like a fuzzy heart. For many, it was the closest they got to the chief justice, who was kept, like the others, in a separate VIP room for much of the evening.
"Have you seen Alito yet?" asked Ann Johnston, a guest of the Arent Fox law firm, just before the speeches began.
She was told that Samuel Alito, confirmed in January to take O'Connor's seat, would not be coming.
Except for Ginsburg and Roberts, none of the other justices came, either.
The honoree and her former colleagues had been instructed to sneak in through a side door, but Miers arrived through the front doors, the glow of yellow McDonald's arches across the street lighting her approach. Bea Ann Smith, a justice from the Texas Court of Appeals, stood ready to whisk her away from hoi polloi, but not before Miers was asked about the importance of the evening.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for so many people to express our appreciation for her wonderful contributions," she answered. "She's been a remarkable public servant."
O'Connor, wearing a dark blue suit, remembered that when President Reagan offered her the job as the first female justice of the Supreme Court, "I had to take a lot of deep breaths to decide."
"It is special to be the first to do something," she said, "but you don't want to be the last."
