WASHINGTON – On news that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has announced her withdrawal from public life, including a disclosure that she has been diagnosed with dementia, Constitutional Accountability Center President Elizabeth Wydra issued the following reaction:

Every American owes a debt of gratitude to Justice O’Connor for her pathbreaking service to our country. Her life story and extraordinary career have changed the course of the Court’s, and our nation’s, history forever. Justice O’Connor has led by example, with the power of a stateswoman and accomplished jurist, showing me and millions of other women and men how to comport ourselves in our chosen profession, and how to respect the institutions of American government handed down to us by our forebears through more than two hundred years of sacrifice and struggle.

I hope Justice O’Connor can reflect with great pride and contentment on the fact that she has inspired countless of her fellow citizens to take up the torch that she has for so long carried with such fortitude. For a decade, Constitutional Accountability Center has endeavored to play our part in “helping young people understand their crucial role as informed, active citizens in our nation.” We continue to be grateful to Justice O’Connor for her participation in celebrating our country’s Second Founding. And we look forward to joining people across our land in carrying on her mission of civic education as we work to ensure that the text, history, and values of our Constitution are made a reality for all in America.

We salute her courage in sharing this difficult news with all of us. We wish her the very best in the trying time to come, and hope she knows that we will keep her and her family in our thoughts.

#

Now in our tenth year, Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit the new CAC website at www.theusconstitution.org.

###