O’Connor was a President Reagan appointee to the Supreme Court in 1981, and she retired from the nation’s highest court in 2006. The 16 video games are designed to teach students about civics, even asking them to play the role of president. ICivics offers free curricula and video games in public, private and charter schools in all 50 states and has counted more than 5 million game plays on its website, spokeswoman Kelly Landis said. “It’s putting our country at some risk,” O’Connor said. O’Connor said the American awareness of civics is “on the decline.” It has to be learned,” O’Connor told the gathering of 2,400 conference attendees. “Civic knowledge can’t be handed down the gene pool. Then she added: “Two-thirds of Americans can name a judge on ‘American Idol,’ and only 15% can name the chief justice of the United States,” who is John Roberts. “I can’t believe it,” O’Connor said in in a speech at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s national conference in San Diego on Wednesday. O’Connor cited an Annenberg Public Policy Center national survey showing that only one-third of Americans could name all three branches of the U.S. “It’s a very big organization, and I want them to know and use – and they want to know and to use – iCivics because it’s a great activity for young people,” O’Connor added. Commitment to the rule of law provides a basic assurance that people can know what to expect whether what they do is popular or unpopular at the time. O’Connor said her website,, was partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs because of its vast network serving youths. The family unit plays a critical role in our society and in the training of the generation to come. “But the fact of the matter is that every young person needs to learn how our government works at the national level, at the state level, at the local level and how they can be part of it,” O’Connor said. “When I went to school – and that was a long time ago, and I went to school in El Paso, Texas – we had civics almost every year, and in fact, I almost got tired of it. “Many states around the country are no longer teaching or requiring civics education for young people,” said O’Connor, 82. On Wednesday, O’Connor announced an expansion of that program to include the Boys & Girls Club of America, which has almost 4,000 clubs serving 4.1 million youngsters. Sandra Day OConnor Justice Ginsburg is a very competent justice, and it is a joy to have her on the court, but particularly for me it is a pleasure to have a second woman on the court. 25 'Sandra Day O Connor' Quotes 'Arizonians are deeply proud of Justice Sandra Day OConnors service to this country. Supreme Court after 191 years, is crusading to reverse what she says is an alarming decline in America’s knowledge of democracy and announced an initiative Wednesday to educate children across the country.Īsserting that democracy is not inherited at birth but rather learned in school, O’Connor founded the educational nonprofit group iCivics in 2009 to secure America’s governance and prepare the next generation of citizens and leaders. The writer is a former representative from Massachusetts.Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the U.S. What she is expressing is an example of “resignation remorse,” and she should not be surprised by what she enabled.īARNEY FRANK Newton, Mass. Had O’Connor retired during the Clinton presidency, her successor would almost certainly have supported her decisions on campaign funding, abortion and affirmative action. Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is an American jurist. After the 2000 election she said that because there was a Republican president, she could retire. The proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it. He notes her chagrin that the Supreme Court, in his words, has “been busy disassembling her work,” and quotes her as saying, after the Citizens United charter for unrestrained corporate political spending, “I step away for a couple of years and there’s no telling what’s going to happen.”īut these reversals of her jurisprudence were entirely predictable results of her decision to time her resignation so that George W. Sandra Day OConnor My concern was whether I could do the job of a justice well enough to convince the nation that my appointment was the right move. Adam Liptak’s appropriately tough review of Sandra Day O’Connor’s “Out of Order” (March 31) is actually too easy on the former justice on one count.
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