A wise justice, and a great boss.

AuthorFriedland, Michelle T.
PositionLooking Backward, Looking Forward: The Legacy of Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O'Connor - Testimonial

"Thank you very much for coming," Justice O'Connor said as I entered her chambers to interview for a clerkship. "I'm so sorry to have asked you to make the trip all the way out here from Stanford."

Apparently Justice O'Connor didn't realize that this was the most exciting moment of my life, one for which I would have gladly traveled anywhere. "But it is very important that I meet potential clerks in person, because each of my clerks becomes part of my family." She then asked me as many questions about my family and hobbies as she did about my legal views.

I served as one of four clerks to Justice O'Connor during October Term, 2001, following my graduation from Stanford Law School and a year-long clerkship on the D.C. Circuit. I quickly learned that Justice O'Connor was serious about treating her clerks like family. She integrated us not only into the work of the Supreme Court but also into many other aspects of her rich life.

My days typically began at 7:40 A.M., when I met Justice O'Connor and her other female clerk in her chambers. Together we walked upstairs to the women's locker room and changed into gym clothes for the exercise class the Justice hosted on the fourth-floor basketball court, often referred to as "the highest court in the land." There, we joined about fifteen of her female friends for an hour of Pilates or aerobics. Many of Justice O'Connor's friends wore T-shirts with such slogans as "Exercise Defends Your Constitution" and "Supreme Sport and the Highest Court"--shirts the Justice had made for the group in years past.

Later, back in her chambers overlooking the Capitol dome, my three co-clerks and I dove into our work. We reviewed foot-high piles of petitions for certiorari, wrote memos to Justice O'Connor evaluating the cases that were before the Court, and--once the cases were decided--helped to prepare opinions for publication. Before each oral argument session, Justice O'Connor and the four of us sat on her office couches, surrounded by Southwestern art, to discuss the cases the Court would hear. She often questioned us as if we were the lawyers for the case, probing the implications of each potential argument.

In those sessions and in our written work, Justice O'Connor prodded us to get to the point and to clearly explain the precedential support for and practical consequences of our positions. She encouraged us to think for ourselves and never held it against us if she ultimately decided to disagree. She often...

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