Column

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, passed away on December 1, 2023, at the age of 93.  She was a trailblazer and a role model for many women in the legal profession. Her funeral was held on December 20, 2023.  First day of my internship at the United States Supreme Court the tour guide stopped in front of the portrait of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and said “When she got here, WE (the women) were allowed to wear pants”. I was wearing a skirt of course, but it was the way (the tour guide, a New Yorker and Columbia grad) looked at the portrait. The look of admiration stayed with me. I decided success was having other women believe in your leadership. And then immediately spotted the cafeteria. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor served our nation as a jurist, as a leader, and as a living example of justice, you know how hard that is when you have a bad hair day and the same hairspray as everyone else?  If you ever WORE a full suit but FELT like a Denim Jacket, you know service is the personal commitment to transform yourself, in the interest of others.  As a Justice, service is a commitment made forever. All-American Hero, big like her Texas heart, her impact on the law is immeasurable. As Latinos, we are often made to feel the distance between ourselves and the judicial branch and the courts, but that distance is proximity. The first Latina intern to staff the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office hailed from the innovative SUNY Brockport Washington Internship program, Jody, who works at John Jay.  The second was me, part of the same program. The first Latina Supreme Court Justice was Justice Sotomayor, and the day I mean the actual day she opened her chambers (office), I was in attendance in a thrift store sourced suit, eating a bagel, thinking “WOW – how did I get here?”  As a member of the Supreme Court Intern Family, my privilege is to lift Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and sing the praise of a country girl who fought for me. A home school kid turned Stanford graduate, Presidential Medal recipient, Female senator, and the first woman to serve as majority leader for the Arizona Senate, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. And my role model. I feel and will always feel a part of the institution that Sandra embodied. My boss told me “We are a family at the Supreme Court” so when I was exploring DC, when I felt lost or hit the wrong button on the Google directions button, I knew I could call them at any time. They could come to get me. I never lost that feeling, the Supreme Court itself is an institution that thousands of us have invested in. Its authority is self-evident in our shared belief that the common good can be determined by a select few, who are trusted.  That trust is well placed and the American servants that serve as jurists are navigating a new world of challenges with the same dedication as the old-world traveling court justices (before we had a building the Supreme Court would travel from place to place) with the visibility of modern stars/attorney like Kim Kardashian. It’s hard. They are people. They are our trusted people. And at the end of her life, Sandy wrote children’s books. Her Amazon book review of “Finding Sandy” reads in part: “Sandra’s parents let her learn for herself that these animals are best suited to the wild, though it is often hard to let them go.” As Latinas and as Americans, many of our lessons are learned at home, and as a close this column, I think of the important role many of us play in educating the future Sandy’s of America. Tell them her story, tell them she did it so we could wear pants, the literal and physical ones. And buy these cute books from Amazon and honor her journey which laid the path for theirs. Note: Talia Rodriguez J.D.| is the Special Project Coordinator for the Dr. Katherine S. Conway-Turner Office of Civic and Community Engagement. 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