Evan Thomas on Sandra Day O’Connor

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: It is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who’s getting lionized all over the place for her amazing, amazing groundbreaking legal decisions for women. But how do you think — I mean, maybe it’s unfair — Sandra Day O’Connor stacks up against Justice Ginsburg?

EVAN THOMAS, AUTHOR, “FIRST: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR”: They’re different. Justice Ginsburg was an activist, a feminine icon and an activist and she deserves a lot of attention. But Justice O’Connor who came 12 years before Justice Ginsburg was something different. She cared about power, about getting things done. Justice Ginsburg was often in dissent, she rarely controls the court. Justice O’Connor and her 25 years was the fifth vote, the decisive vote of 330 times. It was Justice O’Connor who kept alive affirmative action for 25 years. It was Justice O’Connor who kept alive abortion rights for 25 years. She was a huge force on freedom of religion. She was the fifth vote in Bush v Gore. She had enormous power, maybe more power than any American woman has ever had.

AMANPOUR: Well, you just mentioned Bush v Gore. Of course, controversial, because many people who study the Supreme Court believe that it was that decision that turned an impartial court the highest in the land, the highest in the world, into another political instrument.

THOMAS: Right.

AMANPOUR: Did Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ever talk about that? Did she have any doubt about her vote and about what that decision by the Supreme Court meant for politics since 2000?

THOMAS: Justice O’Connor had very few regrets in life, was not that kind of person. But on Bush v Gore, she did express some regrets privately and also once publicly to a Chicago — to “The Chicago Tribune” saying that, “Well, maybe the court should not have taken the case. Maybe we should have let it go, said goodbye, and let it go.” This is a very tough case. O’Connor is a pragmatist and her belief was that if the Supreme Court had allowed the recount to go on, you remember the issue was all these ballots and can you count them or not. And so do you stop the recount and let the Republican win or do you let the recount go on? Her belief was that if the recount went on and on, and we’re going on and on, eventually it would have been back in Congress because there was a possibility that you have Republican slate certified by the Republican secretary of state, Gore winning yet another slate. Under the rules, if it’s tied like that, you know who breaks the tie. The tie is broken by the governor of the state of Florida whose name was Bush. And so O’Connor looked down the road and saw a huge car wreck and said, “Look, we’ve got to deal with this now.”