O’Connor Legacy Undercut by New Court
Sandra Day O’Connor’s influence is already starting to wane in little more than the two years since she retired from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court has “undercut several of her most important rulings on issues such as abortion rights, campaign finance law and government policies intended to help racial minorities,” USA Today reports. Part of the reason is due to O’Connor’s emphasis on balancing tests and incremental changes in the law, which gives discretion to justices who continue to interpret her opinions.
The story outlines these areas of the law that have shifted since O’Connor left the court:
• The Supreme Court upheld a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion, retreating from an O’Connor opinion that required an exception to protect the health of the mother.
• The court made it more difficult for public schools to use race as a factor in school assignments. O’Connor had emphasized the importance of diversity and was the swing vote that allowed affirmative action in university admissions decisions.
• The court moved away from a standard O’Connor used to evaluate campaign finance cases and opened the door to issue ads financed by corporations and unions before an election.
