Narrator:

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is the first woman ever to serve on the nation’s highest court. Today, Justice O’Connor gives us her views on current issues and helps us understand the importance of the American judicial system.

Justice O’Connor:

The rule of law is premised on the concept that the body that the nation uses to enact laws — they are the representatives of the people. Then you need a judicial branch that is able to interpret and, if need be, enforce those laws. And to do that, you need people who are fair and impartial, and qualified to be a judge — that’s what you need. And so you need systems in the various countries to select qualified, fair, and impartial judges.

Narrator:

Major legal decisions can have a large impact on American society. Such decisions often form the basis for political debate, and can play an important role in shaping voters’ opinions of candidates in election campaigns. Sometimes judges are criticized for their decisions.

Justice O’Connor:

We have seen in recent years more criticism of judges than I can remember in my lifetime. There’s a lot of talk about activist judges who are legislating from the bench. I find those comments very exaggerated and very harmful. Because judges are not ordinary politicians and they don’t decide cases based on their political preferences.

Narrator:

How the judicial system is formed helps settle problems of public trust before they even start. But nevertheless, disputes still occur. Perhaps the most significant example in recent years is the Supreme Court’s decision in the disputed result of the 2000 presidential election. The decision centered on how to count ballots in the state of Florida.

Justice O’Connor:

Unfortunately in Florida, they decided to leave it up to all the individual poll workers and so there was no uniformity at all in the rules. And that issue came to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said look, it’s a federal election and federal law applies, and under federal law, we have an equal protection clause and every voter is entitled to have the same rules applied as to every other voter.