Cartoon courtesy of WSJ

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will convene a conference of law and business professionals at Emory University on Friday, Oct. 19th entitled “A Fair and Impartial Judiciary.” The conference will focus on the promotion of a fair and unbiased judiciary, an issue that has concerned O’Connor since her 2002 vote in Republican Party of Minnesota vs. White to prevent states from silencing judicial nominees on political opinions while campaigning .

Although O’Connor joined in the majority on the case, she has since been disturbed by the fallout that has seen political activist groups pushing judges to state views before being appointed. O’Connor has tried to reverse this trend since retirement, promoting judicial independence in the media and with conferences like the one held at Emory next Friday.

O’Connor kicks off the conference with a keynote address at 9am Friday in Tull Auditorium. It will be followed by three panels throughout the morning and afternoon discussing “Judicial Impartiality and Accountability”, “Judicial Selection” and “Public Understanding of the Role of the Judiciary”. The conference is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first serve.

See continuation for WSJ opinion piece by O’Connor on judicial independence and an Emory Wheel article about the conference.

An October 2006 op-ed piece by O’Connor in the Wall Street Journal gives a good summation of her concerns. The piece calls for independence of the judiciary and warns of its corruption if compromised by what Adam Smith called “the vulgarity of politics”.

An Emory Wheel article covers O’Connor’s appearance at Emory, but incorrectly states that she dissented in Republican Party of Minnesota vs. White.