Battling Dementia, Sandra Day O’Connor Leaves Public Life With Plea for Bipartisanship

While I regret to hear that Justice O'Connor is developing dementia, I believe that we must remember how she lived her public life. Her call for bipartisanship rings hollow in the shadow of the Bush v Gore case which greatly exacerbated the partisan divide in our nation. Also, I believe that there is a direct line from O'Connor to 9/11 and to our never ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was plugged into the world of Republican politics and had to have known that Bush 2 was irresponsible and unfit to be President. It's only because Trump is such a threat to our Constitution, that we forget the disastrous Bush 2 Presidency. Bush 2 and Condi Rice criminally neglected the Al Qaeda threat and the result was 9/11. Bush 2, Cheney and the neo-cons botched our response in Afghanistan. And they committed one of our greatest foreign policy blunders in starting the Iraq War. Working class Americans today are still coming home in body bags because of Bush 2. Bush 2 continued the voodoo economics of Reagan and ignored the warning signs of the Great Recession, causing great economic suffering as millions lost jobs and houses. At the end of his life, Republican operative Lee Atwater apologized for his role in building the partisan divide. Before she is overtaken by dementia, it might help to heal the nation if Justice O'Connor would acknowledge that she made a mistake in the Bush v Gore case.

When she voted to install Bush as president in "Bush v. Gore", she lost all credibility.

I still can't forgive any of the justices in the unsigned opinion appointing George Bush as president in a partisan decision. They should have waited until FLORIDA made the request.

Justice Roberts can mouth the words "“She serves as a role model not only for girls and women, but for all those committed to equal justice under law", but let's see how well he does keeping "equal justice" in practice in light of his increasingly stacked deck of tunnel-visioned sycophants and indentured Justices. If his past performance is any indication of future expectations, we're in for a very dark future for human rights and the rights of the non-corporate entities and a bulging wallet for influence peddling lobbyists. Dark times for True Justice indeed!

We should keep in mind that it takes two to make peace, but only one to make war. Our democracy is threatened not by both sides, but rather by one.

She ruined her reputation in Bush v Gore.

It is sad, but she must be remembered for creating this spit in America. She overruled the voice of the people of Florida and of the nation, and did it on nonsensical legal grounds, pretending to care about equal representation in voting, but insisting that pretend care never be used as a precedent for any other voter denied equal representation. She has hinted she did that because she wanted to retire to care for her ailing husband, and didn't want a Democrat to appoint her replacement. Many Americans are called to make sacrifices, however terrible, losing their lives and family members in service to the nation. She chose instead to sacrifice her honor in service to herself.

Sandra - run for office and I'll vote for you and volunteer for your campaign. Your desire for bipartisan cooperation is refreshing!

She paved the way to so many dead Americans, Iraqis, and Afghanis. Let's remember each life in the oreder it was lost.

The good news is that she regrets her Bush/Cheney V Gore vote, weak tea because the bad news is a murdered Iraq, massive debt, massive recession. Her vote here was obviously partisan and will never get a pass.

It appears that she's having her Lee Atwater moment.

I really wish journalists would stop using metaphors of war and violence to describe illnesses like cancer and dementia. No exertion of will is going to alter a person's situation with respect to such diseases, and people who ultimately die from them are not failures or blameworthy. Yes, when faced with such terrible diseases, we muster all our inner resources and use every means we can to survive and restore ourselves. But don't add insult to devastating disease by implying that those who don't survive failed to meet the challenge or made "lifestyle" choices that caused the illness in the first place.

She was a smart, decent and middle of the road Republican on SCOTUS - the SCOTUS Republicans now on the Court are not middle of the road, perhaps most are smart. But at least one does not appear decent!

This is a good time and place to encourage Justice O'Connor and others to read The End of Alzheimer's by Dr. Dale Bredesen. His work is miraculous.

I hate to sound pessimistic, but the days of “putting country and the common good above party and self-interest” are probably long gone. We now live in a world of self-entitlement and "tribalism," and unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be changing any time soon.

There can be no bipartisanship with another who doesn't believe in it and chose it also. Like any relationship, both parties have to want the relationship. McConnell doesn't want bipartisanship, he wants power, control and money. Many Republicans pay lip service to bipartisanship when they vote to support lock step, zombie, party only process, procedures and votes. They don't walk their talk. They are afraid of risking anything with a portion of their constituency, whether its their voters or their donor owners. The call for bipartisanship falls on deaf Republican ears. This stems in part from how members of Congress are selected (single member districts, gerrymandering, by majority) so that minority concerns and issues are totally overlooked. We need to have a hybrid process for selecting Representatives similar to Germany. We need to get rid of the two senators per state. The Great Compromise has failed.

If only Reagan had had family urging him to retire from public life when Alzheimer's began to affect his memory and ability to manage affairs. He'd have retired at least in his second term. This country seems to accept dementia-afflicted men running the mental health facility. But have they no loving family, no good faith trusted advisors? What sort of adult children would allow a failing mother or father to exhibit dementia from the podium or desk he or she once commanded with grace and intelligence? Who would not save them from that public decline? What would any of us do if our once dignified, law-abiding, hard-working, God-fearing mother or father began to call people animal names, to spout nonsensical claims and make outrageous demands for punishment of people based on imagined events, began publicly boasting of feeling people's crotches, paying money to pornography stars, proclaiming they can kill people and simply say "I pardon me", blaming conspirators for their problems, praising violent actions, making fun of the halt and the lame, slandering soldiers, their parents, even their widows? Would we encourage them to stay in charge of the family business? To give sermons from the pulpit? What sort of children, what kind of spouse, would cheer them on? If that were the mother's or father's character all along, the business would have already gone bankrupt, the temple given over to money-makers, the parent already on trial and the butt of jokes all over town.

There are other factors that contribute to dementia besides age. Hyperparathyroidism, a condition where excessive amounts of calcium are leeched from the bones, causes osteoporosis, dementia, and kidney stones. Elevated levels of calcium in the blood should be followed up with a "PTH, Intact" blood test, which will show if one or more of the parathyroid glands might have a tumor. The operation to correct this is uncomplicated and can halt osteoporosis and other symptoms, such as dementia. Parathyroid glands are not related in any way to thyroid glands, except that they are located next to the thyroid. A thyroid test will not detect a parathyroid condition. UCLA published an important paper in 2016 about studies which showed patients past the age of 80 benefited from the operation as much as younger patients. (https://www.uclahealth.org/endocrine-center/parathyroid-surgery-benefits). Sandra Day O'Connor could benefit from this test.

I wish Justice O'Connor the best, but it is not enough to call for bipartisanship after you have relinquished power. The time for O'Connor to have acted with the spirit of neutrality was when she was an active justice. Instead, she became the deciding vote in one of the most partisan decisions in my lifetime. Too little, too late.

This piece serves as a reminder that presidents used to nominate high court justices who attended law schools not named Yale and Harvard. Both O'Connor and Rehnquist graduated from Stanford. I agree that O'Connor largely was a good justice, but Bush v Gore was a real low point for her. She seems to agree in retrospect.

Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the aftermath of Bush v Gore, would disagree with this puff piece.

Her vote in Bush v Gore was critical in the fall of the Court to its current state. As Justice Stevens memorably said: "Although we ay never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence of the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law." The damage of that blatantly political decision resonates to this day and will continue to do so. Justice O'Connor later expressed half-remorse for it. Too little and too late, Justice.

I would prefer a different description than 'battling dementia'. That suggests that, when she loses, as she inevitably will, it is somehow a reflection on her. I think battles should be reserved to describe outcomes that can possibly be won.

She like every good Republican will handle her problem with federal medical insurance financed by the taxpayers. Being a good moderate she never took issue with a moderate forty million Americans living without the same socialist medical benefit she enjoys.

I seem to recall that, when informed that Al Gore could win the election, she pitched a fit. Bush v. Gore followed and Al Gore, a person who received a majority of the votes, was defeated by a partisan Supreme Court of which she was a member. It could be argued that Bush v. Gore set the stage for the Trump era.

Bush v Gore should be engraved on her tombstone. A decision drawing a straight line to the mess we are in today.

Justice O'Connor's letter does not call for bipartisanship. It calls for putting country above party, which is not at all the same as bipartisanship. The letter also calls for putting country above self-interest, which the party of Ayn Rand will never do. The major political problem of the past 40 years is the movement of the GOP to the extreme right. Simply splitting the difference is not a good method to achieve reasoned compromise and good policy.

Unfortunately I cannot see two most recently appointed Justices “putting country and the common good above party and self-interest.”, not to mention the rest of the "new right". Her diagnosis is a great loss for our country and a personal tragedy for her. I hope her journey takes her somewhere she can find the same solace as her husband did in his diseased state. It would only be fair. Thank you for your service Justice O'Connor.

"...increased commitment to civics education," is a lesson of hers that should be ingrained into the national psyche. When only 55% of eligible voters took part in the 2016 elections this commitment of the judge to civic education looms large. I wish the very best for her from here on.

A great woman, a great justice--her absence from the court and from public life is a great loss to our country.