Sandra Day O'Connor participates in judicial independence panel at NYU School of Law

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor participated in a panel discussion on the topic of judicial independence at the NYU School of Law. The panel, held on November 6 and hosted in conjunction with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, included Judith Resnik, the Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School; Bert Brandenburg, the executive director of the Justice at Stake campaign; and Viet Dinh, former assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush; and was moderated by Linda Greenhouse, former Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times. O’Connor argued for the depoliticization of judgeships and endorsed merit-based selection process and lengthened term limits as means to reduce partisanship in the judicial process. “We can’t afford to have a judicial system that is perceived as being corrupt, biased or otherwise unethical,” she said. “And while we’ve been fortunate to have a judicial system that’s generally respected, it should not be taken for granted.”