“Since many people have asked about my current status and activities,” Justice O’Connor wrote, “I want to be open about these changes, and while I am still able, share some personal thoughts.” Justice O’Connor’s announcement was also a poignant reminder of dementia’s toll as Americans are living longer than ever. In her letter, she called for a renewed commitment to nonpartisan values, one that requires “putting country and the common good above party and self-interest, and holding our key governmental institutions accountable.” As this condition has progressed, I am no longer able to participate in public life.”Īs Justice O’Connor, 88, exits the public stage, so does the kind of figure once familiar in American political and judicial circles: a moderate Republican ready to find compromise and common ground. “Some time ago,” she wrote in a characteristically blunt and candid public letter, “doctors diagnosed me with the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease. On Tuesday, Justice O’Connor announced her own reckoning with the disease that had afflicted her husband, John J. He died in 2009, three years after her retirement. She would visit the new couple while they held hands on a porch swing, beaming with relief to see her husband of 55 years at peace. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor handled her new role with grit and good humor, even when her husband had a romance with another woman in the assisted-living center where he spent his days. But she gave up the job she loved, along with extraordinary power, to guide and comfort her husband, who was struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. WASHINGTON - The first woman to serve on the Supreme Court was just 75, young by its standards, and still sharp and vigorous when she left.
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