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O'Connor's legacy: a slow-moving target

By Mark Obbie

Joan Biskupic has a thoughtful, high-altitude view of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy on the front of today's USA Today. The only thing that's curious about it is its timing. What's the hook? The story seems to say, in essence, that while O'Connor's carefully crafted compromise rulings took some hits last term, they've fared a little better this term -- so far. How those trends continue to develop will determine how lasting her jurisprudence is. Or something like that. So the more dramatic story line -- the one emphasized in the heds and the lede -- is a year old. The latest is downplayed, coming into focus not until the end of the long (by USAT standards) story. It ends up feeling like a story that would have had a clearer hook at the conclusion of this term, once this and previous terms could be compared in full. (Via How Appealing) One of Biskupic's sources, meanwhile, surfaces with a post at Slate's Convictions blog helpfully filling in some details that the USAT story leaves out.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).