O’Connor Recalled as Collegial While Sotomayor Working On It

Sandra Day O’Connor was responsible for collegiality on the U.S. Supreme Court more than any other justice, her former colleague and current justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Sept. 25.

Justices used to be openly hostile to one another. That changed when women came on the bench, Ginsburg said at a Ronald Reagan Institute event in Washington marking the anniversary of O’Connor’s 1981 swearing-in as the first woman on the Supreme Court.

There will always be tense moments, Ginsburg said. For instance, she said the court’s 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore that sent George W. Bush to the White House ...