Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Since her appointment as the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has had a major, but largely unrecognized, influence on the collective jurisprudence of the Burger and Rehnquist Courts. In this comprehensive and systematic analysis of O'Connor's judicial contributions, Nancy Maveety describes how O'Connor has used accommodationist decision-making strategies to make substantive contributions to the development of both constitutional law and the Court's norms of collegiality. Skeptical of interpretations that seek to impose feminist conventions on O'Connor's judicial behavior, this account combines biographical data with an analytical discussion of O'Connor's crucial decisions. This is important reading for anyone interested in the Supreme Court and contemporary jurisprudence.

This book has theory and data valuable to scholars interested in judicial decision making at any level., The definitive study on O'Connor's jurisprudence., A well-crafted, penetrating analysis of Justice O'Connor's voting behavior and opinion-writing tendencies that moves well beyond prior studies which focus primarily on O'Connor's gender rather than her judicial philosophy. The book offers an intriguing insight into the dynamics of how Justice O'Connor uses her accommodationist philosophy to exert influence over the Court in several key policy-making areas, such as abortion, religious freedoms, and racial equality., ...useful and well-conceived account..., Unquestionably, there is much here which is helpful and illuminating . . . I would certainly have this book in my library.

Nancy Maveety is associate professor of political science at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the author of Representation Rights and the Burger Years.