[marching] [silence] [silence] today, we are united by a common sorrow, a common affection, and a common hope. We gather to give thanks for the life of an extraordinary public servant. Justice Sandra Day Oconnor. Remember to remember the way her live touched hours, to entrust her to the keeping of her god. We also gather to surround her family with our love and support in their time of grief. She was a beloved mother, grandmother, sister. She was also a trusted court colleague. A cherished mentor. A friend and a trailblazing inspiration to many. Most of us gathered here were part of her court family. This space, this building was a kind of holy space for us, the place where we had our most sustained interactions with her. In our shared sorrow, we gather to draw strength from one another and from the holy one upon whom the justice called throughout her life. Let us pray. Eternal god, lord of life and death, we thank you for your service your servant sandra and for the love and mercy she received from you and gave to us. In these moments a grateful remembrance, gather our pain into the piece of your presence. And assure us that not even death can separate us from your infinite mercy. Amen. Justice oconnor sometimes compared being appointed to this court in 1981 to being struck by lightning. Many of us, including me, felt the same way about the honor of being appointed her clerk. More fundamentally, she left an indelible mark on our lives. We are grateful, of course, for the privilege of our Public Service and are heady debates about the constitutional questions of the day. Even more, we are grateful for the way she shaped us as Young Lawyers and as human beings, by her cowgirl grit, energy, and no nonsense sense of duty. By her ironclad rule that she would never respond in kind to any unkind words in an opinion. By her grace under intense public scrutiny. By her generosity of spirit, since of humor, and zest for life. Noticing our long hours, she insisted we get away from our desks to exercise in her aerobics class and enjoy washingtons museums and springtime cherry blossoms. During my term, a fierce rain storm erupted on the day of a plant picnic planned picnic. Undeterred, indeed thrilled by rain and shaped no doubt by her fathers instructions that in ranching life one must be prepared for anything, she simply brought along large umbrellas for our rainsoaked picnic around the basin. With selfdeprecating humor, she indulged a clerks request to photocopy her hand, to make that now famous sign captioned, for a pat on the back lien here lean here. We never doubted her appreciation for our efforts to deliver the excellence she inspired for us. To naturally competitive Young Lawyers, she modeled collegiality. Whether it was wandering down the hall to persuade another justice to join her opinion or requiring us to take opposing positions in saturdays debates of upcoming arguments, she believed completely in the value of thought, respectful debate from differing perspectives to arrive at a good answer. She and her husband john enjoyed a visibly loving, joyful partnership. She hoped each of us would find that kind of joy. So she was known to dabble in some mischievous matchmaking on behalf of an unattached clerk. For those of us blessed with families, her nurturer included giving tshirts naming our children her grand clerks. She also embodied the conviction inspired by her stanford mentor that one committed person can make a constructive difference. That was certainly true of her votes on this court, where she sought common ground. It is true of her pioneering efforts to improve civics education. She believes that realizing the dream of our nation depends on hard work to educate each generation in the design of our extraordinary system of american democracy. But the difference one person can make is especially true of her influence on her clerks. She shaped us by her lessons in meaningful work, loving relationship, and zest for life. Hers was a lifetime appointment, but hours was the gift of her lifelong investment in us, not just as lawyers but as human beings. We love her dearly, and for the gift of her life we give thanks. Let us pray. Into your hands, o merciful savior, we commend your servant, sandra. Acknowledge, we humbly pray, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own smock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the Glorious Company of the saints. Amen. The heavens shed a tear this morning. I thank the chief justice and the Oconnor Family for this privilege of speaking today in honor of my life role model, Sandra Day Oconnor. I start where i believe she would have started, by introducing her beloved family. Scott oconnor and his wife, with their children. Brian oconnor and his wife and their children and j oconnor and his wife and their son. Over the years, i have had the pleasure of spending time with some of the Oconnor Family and of serving alongside jay on the civics board where we worked to continue sandras pathbreaking initiative in civics education. We are here to mark the passing of a truly remarkable person, to honor and remember sandra not only for her work as a judge but for her humanity, leadership, and vision. We cannot do that without giving thanks to each of you in the Oconnor Family. Especially to your dad john, who sandra adored and who made the greatest of sacrifices to follow her to washington, d. C. The world, the country, and our court oh all of you a debt of gratitude. I know how precious you were to her. Each of you had your own unique relationship with her. She cherished that relationship. She was especially grateful for her wonderful daughtersinlaw and it is not hard to imagine why. For a long time, the only woman among men, sandra appreciated you, her daughtersinlaw, for breaking up some of the homogeneity in her life. To her grandchildren, you only got to know her at the second part of her life, but i hope you know that she lived her life to leave her legacy particularly to you. She was devoted to making a better world. And that is what she did. Some years ago, my colleagues and i were at lunch discussing the bygone era of the court, when justices were openly hospitable to reach other and rarely interacted personally. It was a sad chapter in our courts history. One colleague suggested, when did that change . Someone suggested a particular chief justice. Another named a different chief justice. Ruth, in her quiet yet commanding voice, said, it changed when a woman came to the court. Those at the table who had served with sandra shook their heads vigorously in agreement. My friend clarence once described sandra as the glue of this court. I agree. She brought us all together, even after she retired. The first day i came to work in this building, sandra was at my office door to welcome me to the court. Of the many topics she covered, the one she seemed most intense to get across was the importance of regularly attending the justices lunch after arguments and conferences. The collegiality of the court, she explained, was vital to getting our work done in a manner the country would respect. She was press the enter in that regard. Later, when i met with the chief justice, he told me sandra had made him promise he would leave attendances at our lunches, impressing upon him the importance of building our relationships with one another. The chief today still honors his promise to sandra and rarely misses a lunch. Sandra was also known for dragging colleagues out of their offices by licking her arms through theirs and walking them to the lunchroom whenever she noticed their attendance was lagging. Many justices who served with her experienced this firsthand. Sandra shared herself, her family, and even her home fully with her colleagues and expected the same from all of us. They lunches and the many other gettogethers sandra initiated, including dinners, movies, barbecues, visits to the theater and museums, or almost never about the food, the show, or the occasional they were about bringing us closer to one another and ensuring that we got to know each other as full people. She knew the value of this. She practiced it firsthand when she was the first female majority leader of the arizona senate, famously bringing together her colleagues on both sides of the aisle for routine barbecues. So she understood that personal relationships were critical to working together. Even and especially in the face of adversity or strenuous disagreement. This may seem obvious now to many of us, but it was not until she made it so. She changed our court and everything she touched so fundamentally. And so much for the better. So of course that is not the only way sandra changed the court. Scholars have paid more attention to her close to 700 opinions then she ever expected or sought. For many years, the way sandra went, the court followed. That was for a simple reason. She approached each case with incredible thoughtfulness and sought to arrive at a practical conclusion. She never disregarded the realities of our country. As my colleague has said, she had an extraordinary understanding of the american people, just as she had an extraordinary understanding of this courts rule and its limits. The nation was well served by the steady hand and intellect of a justice who never lost sight of how the law affected ordinary people. Ruth once said she could scarcely follow sandra. Few ever could, although i knew ruth came close. Pressuring years of female law clerks into attending her earlymorning gym class something i know ruth missed sandra exercised every day, socialized every night and weekend, and traveled across the country and the world, even during her chemotherapy sessions. She never missed a day of work. She did the courts work, wrote books, and spoke at seemingly every college come along school, and Bar Association in the United States and abroad. To quote stephen breyer, she worked tirelessly, traveling during Court Vacations to American Indian courts, tribal courts. As an aside, she and stephen were the first justices to ever do that. Meeting with asian, african, and european judges and planning with Bar Association representatives about how to advance the rule of law, democracy, and independent judicial systems in the former soviet bloc. Sandra was a leader, promoting the rule of law in emerging nations. She also traveled across the country to promote merit based judicial selection instead of elected judges. Always advocating for judicial independence. If all of this were not enough, sandra was instrumental in founding the arizona womens Lawyers Association and the National Association of women judges and spoke at events at the interNational Association of women justices. She sat on countless boards of directors for nonprofits and charitable organizations, each one meaningful to her. After her retirement from this court, she founded the Sandra Day Oconnor institute, which aimed to advance american democracy through civics education, civic engagement, and civil discourse. Which brings us to what i view as sandras signature accomplishment and most lasting legacy. Icivics. She saw our nations civil discourse breaking down and believed that we would lose our democracy if we did not teach civics to our younger generation. Sandra famously said the practice of democracy is not passed down in the gene pool. It must be taught and learned by each generation. She decided the way to reach our youngest generation was through interactive online games that would make learning fun. Her goal was to have icivics reach every state in the country. It has. The icivics games are played by over 9 Million Students nationwide, now in english and spanish. Icivics has expended high school and College Students and is working on primary education projects. Her memory will live on through this incredible organization, which meant so much to her and means so much to me. I am grateful not just today but to the i think sandra for her vision and her drive. Not merely to see and understand the problem but to do something about it. Just do it was the mantra for her. And with it, she accomplished so much. Perhaps sandra would want me to stop here with her contributions to society. But i want to say more about how wonderful she was as a person. The first time i met sandra was around 1998, when i was invited to the court as a new Circuit Court judge. Sandra was gracious toward the judges. A generosity and spirit that i would learn extended to the never ending line of people who said hello whenever she was out of the public. That day, one new judge asked whether she had spaces chambers. She said she thought so and promptly took us all for ourselves to see her office. The southwest motif was warm and welcoming and captured some of the arizona sun she so loved. The cowgirl from out west was on full display. And i remember that a cushion in her office read maybe an era but never in doubt error but never in doubt. This combination of humility and fearlessness was hers. She never let selfdoubt stop her from making a decision or taking charge and doing something. And our country was better for it. Like countless other women, i will always remember the day sandra was nominated to become the First Female Supreme Court justice. Sitting in my District Attorneys Office in new york, i felt the gravity of her nomination. At a time when most states had no female justices on their high courts and firms of 300500 lawyers touted having one female partner, i knew sandra would open up the door for women and serve as an inspiration to girls across the country. Later on, she would often say that it was good to be the first but dont want to be the last. Today, i know she is smiling, knowing that four sisters serve on her court. For the four of us and for so many others of every background and aspiration, sandra was a living example that women could take on any challenge. Could more than hold their own in spaces dominated by men and could do so with grace. An interviewer once asked sondra how she wanted to be remembered on her tombstone. She replied, here lies a good judge. Yes, sandra. You will be remembered that way. But a fool would agree, here lies a good judge, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend and, above all else, a human being, extraordinary. Let us have a moment of silence for reflection now. [silence] sondra, may you rest in peace. Sandra, may you rest in peace. [silence]
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