The Week

They’re accusing Ronald Reagan of simultaneously causing recession and serving the interests of the rich. But hell, that’s nothing. Before he was elected they had him conducting a race war and a nuclear war at the same time.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has served the equivalent of about one inning in her first season on the high court, and James J. Kilpatrick, lifetime ticketholder, likes her performance so far. As of a fortnight ago, the court had acted on 19 cases in which Justice O’Connor had participated. In one 5 to 4 decision, she sided with the liberals—Marshall, Brennan, and Stevens. All the other 5 to 4 splits found her keeping company with Burger and Rehnquist. Kilpatrick also noted “penetrating questions’’ during oral arguments, and a sharp but civil way with a dissenting opinion. “The history of the court,” he warns, “abundantly demonstrates that Justices will not stay tied. . . . Let us keep fingers crossed.”

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They’re accusing Ronald Reagan of simultaneously causing recession and serving the interests of the rich. But hell, that’s nothing. Before he was elected they had him conducting a race war and a nuclear war at the same time.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has served the equivalent of about one inning in her first season on the high court, and James J. Kilpatrick, lifetime ticketholder, likes her performance so far. As of a fortnight ago, the court had acted on 19 cases in which Justice O’Connor had participated. In one 5 to 4 decision, she sided with the liberals—Marshall, Brennan, and Stevens. All the other 5 to 4 splits found her keeping company with Burger and Rehnquist. Kilpatrick also noted “penetrating questions’’ during oral arguments, and a sharp but civil way with a dissenting opinion. “The history of the court,” he warns, “abundantly demonstrates that Justices will not stay tied. . . . Let us keep fingers crossed.”