Today is September 21, and on this date in history, in 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve on the U. S. Supreme Court.

She was lucky to be a woman and in the right place at the right time, as she didn't have the intellectual firepower to be a justice.  Her chief qualification was her female gender.  Her approach to legal issues appearing before the court was the same she took as a member of the Arizona Legislature--compromise and water down the great principles of the day.

The country is better off with her in retirement.

OConnor was a swing vote on various issues including the egregious Kelo decision. Her replacement on the bench by Sam Alito could prove to be a quite significant turning point depending on how Roberts turns out. If both Alito and Roberts are true to their Constitutional authority and work within the prescribed powers granted to them by the Constitution, the resignation of a Ginsberg or Stevens- and replacement thereof by another restrained jurist- could tip the balance of the Constitutional order back to The People. And how glorious that would be.

More significant will be her replacement.

Yeah and believe me, Bush is finding a replacement that will appeal primarily to the Jesus Freaks and we will have more church interference wiht the government and with our freedom.

This is a significant event, that might become more significant depending on the future of the Supreme Court. If O'Connor's replacement sways crucial matters in one direction or another, than this event will have had huge implications.

An important story because she has recently been described (I believe accurately) as The Most Powerful Woman in America. It's hard to argue w/ that b/c she has been the swing vote on any number of hot button issues. Essentially, this Stanford alum is the reason we still have Affirmative Action and abortion in all 50 states. There's more she's done, too ... it will be interesting to see how her replacement pans out.

A sad thing, the only moderate person, which the whole supreme court should be, has left. There is like a .0000000001% chance of Bush picking another moderate. Sad

Big story. The most embarrssing appointment for the democrats, probably ever, as Reagan appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court. She has served with superior intellect and dignity, has been primarily (though, at times, unreliably) conservative and her retirement sets up the first battle in the mother of all (judicial/ideological) political wars for Bush, who has done a spectacularly poor job of preparing for this battle. I'm sorry to see her go as her calm demeanor will probably be sorely missed on the bench. Bush could appoint Eleanor Clift as her replacement and she would be characterized as a sedentary conservative by our ridiculously, irresponsible (somehow democrat-controlled) Senate. As a news story: 3 stars. As a political story: 4 stars.

She was the swing judge, and I have to say that I am sad to see her go because she was a moderate justice who will probably be replaced by some sedentary conservative.