Peter
Junior Chimp
Posts: 6,030
Political Matrix
E: -0.77, S: -7.48
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« on: December 18, 2006, 08:44:19 AM » |
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O'Connor is a mixed bag, though on reflection a Freedom Fighter.
Certainly her decisions on the commerce clause cases of the era (Lopez, Morrison, Raich) are to be commended. She should also be viewed in a favourable light for her upholding the majority of the better parts of the Warren era (Miranda, right to counsel, some 1st amendment precedent [in particular her '05 stands in McCreary and Van Orden]).
Her continual umming and arring over affirmitive action (for race) scars her record on the equal protection clause which had otherwise been good (in particular its protection of gays). Her death penalty jurisprudence has returned to bit her (i.e. Thompson v. OK ultimately going further than she had intended in Roper), though some parts were good. Finally, I consider the greatest mistake of her career to be her dissents to Apprendi and its progeny.
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