The First Female Justice Explains The Power Of A Voice Feat. Sandra Day O' Connor

Judge o', Connor, I have a call from the White House. And here came Ronald Reagan on the phone. Sandra, I'd like to announce your nomination tomorrow for the U.S. supreme Court. Is that all right with you? We started producing generations of young people who didn't lack understanding in how our government is selected and how it functions, how it works and how they have a voice, the citizens. We've never worked on the basis of a quota. I think it ought to be. The selection should be based on merit. And I hope they will continue to be.

So we have something in common. We both were born in El Paso.

El Paso. Isn't that amazing? Not many people can say that. Anybody else here today? No.

Who's been to El Paso?

I see a few hands. Maybe they were on their way to Juarez. What do you think?

That's a good possibility. I think more of them have been there than El Paso.

I think so, too.

You grew up in a cattle ranch in Arizona?

Yes. My grandfather day bought ranch land in the Gadsden Purchase area. Do you remember in our country, about 1880, we decided we needed to buy land from Mexico? The border with Mexico was the Gila River. And it turned out that there was a company that wanted to build a rail line, railroad line from New Orleans to Los Angeles. And they couldn't go north of the Gila because it was too mountainy. They wanted the flat land that was on the south side of the Gila. And so they persuaded the powers that be in the country to try to buy land from Mexico where they could put the rail line so they could go from New Orleans to la. And New Mexico, Mexico, the country of Mexico, didn't mind at all selling us more land. And we probably should have gotten more than we got as long as they were willing to sell it. But we just got that strip that we bought in that exchange. And that was when my grandfather, who I think was a good businessman, said, well, I think I ought to buy some ranch land there. And so he went down and got ranch land in that tract that we bought from Mexico. And then he had to find some cattle to put on it. And they weren't easily available, not the kind that you raise for beef. And he had to go to Mexico to buy cattle. And he went down there with a few cowhands and bought a herd in Mexico that had the Lazy Bee brand on it. That's a Bee lying down. Picture a capital B lying down. And that was what he bought. And we kept the brand from then on. They came up from Mexico and he Started ranching and it continued. And he and his wife had five children in all. And the youngest was my father, Harry Day. I think his name was Henry, but he didn't like that. So it became Harry. And he, as the youngest son, was asked to go and take care of the ranch when his father died. His father was considerably older and died, and they needed somebody to run the ranch while the estate was settled. So my father was sent out there to do it and he never left. It was amazing.

Wow. So what was your experience with civic education growing up? Because we're going to talk about.

Well, I didn't have any. I mean, I had to go away to school and I had maternal grandparents in El Paso, Texas. So my parents made a deal with them. They kept me when I was in school and I went to school in El Paso. Ms. Radford School for Girls. How's that for grade school? And that was an amazing place. They didn't have many little girls, but a lot of them were children of ranch families who had ranches in Mexico or various places. And they had to educate their kids. And Bradford School was a good place for the girls. And I remember one just unbelievable day. The principal of the school was a formidable, formidable looking woman. She wore pinstripe dresses, you know, like men's pinstripe shirts, only hers were dresses, and pulled her hair back. She was as homely as she could be. But she had made friends somehow, or acquaintance at least, with Eleanor Roosevelt. She asked Eleanor Roosevelt to come by the school and say hello to the children at Bradford School. And Eleanor Roosevelt agreed to do that. Now, I did not dare tell my parents. My father could not stand Franklin Roosevelt. He had been elected president and the only one he thought was worse was Eleanor. So I didn't dare tell him that we were having a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt. So all the little girls that day got dressed up and we went outside and stood around the flagpole at Bradford School, waited for her and the long black car they used the same cars today as they did then drove up in front of the school and she was in the backseat and they opened the door and she got out and she walked up to where we were around the flagpole, and she was fine. You know, she made good comments. We all appreciated it and heard her and listened to her and thought it was fine. But I never dared tell my parents anything more about it at all because of the dislike there of the Roosevelts by my father.

So what made you different as a child? I mean, I want to.

Well, because I was Away from home every year for the nine months of school. And I grew up riding horses and doing whatever you could do on the ranch. I liked that a lot. It was fun. And it was very remote. We didn't have electricity or any of the things you would expect. And it was a long trip into town. We went, took a car and drove into the nearest town once a week so we could get groceries because we had plenty of beef to eat. We had lots of that. But when it came, we always had a sack or two of frijole beans. Do any of you know what frijole beans are? Okay, they're dry. And you can put them in sacks and store them forever without refrigeration. So we had beef and frijole beans, but for anything else, we had to go to town. And that was a big expedition each week.

Well, talk about your experience in perseverance in becoming an attorney. I mean, you had quite a few stories.

I went to grade school and high school in El Paso, and every member of my high school class applied to and went to some college in Texas. Nobody applied for out of state education. And I think my father had hoped to go to Stanford. That had been his plan. But when his father died, he was sent out to the ranch to keep things going, just till they settled the estate. Well, that took about 10 or 12 years. So he never ended up going to college at all, which was sad. He was very smart man, and that was sad. And I think I must have had in my mind, well, I should apply to Stanford, which I did, and darn if they didn't take me. So I went off. I didn't know what it was like, I had no clue. And I ended up going there. I liked it very much. It was so interesting. And as an undergraduate student at Stanford, I took a class taught by a law professor there, and I really enjoyed that class. And because of that, I then applied to Stanford Law School, and darned if they didn't take me. So that's how it all happened. And it wasn't planning. We didn't know lawyers, and my family would not have thought that was the direction their child should take. But.

So when you were looking for work as an attorney, what was that like?

Oh, well, that's a totally different story. One of my classmates at Stanford was a fellow named William Rehnquist. How about that? And we were good friends, and I lived in a place where just a few graduate women were living. And we used to have bridge games and things like that. And we'd get Bill Rehnquist up there to play bridge. And it was a good, a good experience. And then I married my. I was dating as a senior, as a third year law student, a fellow from California named John o'. Connor. And he had been deferred, we had a draft then for World War II and he got drafted. He got a draft notice because he was graduating and they picked him up and I decided I better follow him. And I had already gotten a job finally as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo County, California. Redwood City, any of you know Redwood City? So that's where I was. And I loved my job. It was fun. It was hard to get a job as a woman. Nobody wanted you. But I talked the county attorney into that. But then John was drafted and he was given a commission in the Judge Advocate General's Court and they sent him to Charlottesville, Virginia for school. And I couldn't just stay behind. So I gave up my hard won job and followed John to Charlottesville, Virginia, which as most of you know, is a very pleasant place, it really is. And he was there for three months. And one Sunday it was kind of rainy and dull and I said, why don't we drive up to Washington DC this afternoon? I had never seen Washington dc. My husband had he been around the country and seen everything, but I hadn't. And so he said okay. And we got in the car and drove to Washington D.C. and we parked up by the Capitol on the court and walked up to the Supreme Court and we walked up those stairs in the columns. You've seen pictures of the court, got up there. Well, it was a Sunday and it was closed tight, so we couldn't get in. And I couldn't see it. And I remember us saying to each other, well, that's the closest we'll ever get to the U.S. supreme Court. It didn't quite turn out that way, did it? Wow, that was amazing.

So who inspired you to go to law school? Were there any teachers? What was the influence?

Well, I took a class as an undergraduate student at Stanford that was taught by a law professor. And I loved the class. He was really impressive. And I just thought, oh gosh, if, if they're that good in the law school, I better apply. Which I did.

Gotcha. Well, you started something called iCivics?

Yes.

How does it work? Why'd you start it? What's it for? How does it work?

Let me back up a little. You probably know that the first public schooling we had in this country was given to students with the argument. Now we've created a Good system of government. We have a wonderful country, but we need to educate our young people. We need to teach them how our government is formed, what it is, and how they're going to be part of it. That was the way we got public schools in this country. Interestingly enough, today, if you look at the 50 states, hardly any of them teach that to young people anymore. They might take some math and science classes and some other things, but they're not going to take civics. They don't teach that anymore. And the result was, I think, that we started producing generations of young people who didn't, who lacked understanding in how our government is selected and how it functions, how it works, and how they have a voice, the citizens. And that was the whole purpose of public education in the first place. And we were losing it because we were into math and science, which I think is great. But you cannot neglect the public aspects of education and teaching young people how our government works and how they're part of it and how they're going to be in control, that's critical. So I thought maybe it would help if I did a little effort to see if we couldn't have an education program on the web, on a computer that would teach young people how government worked. And how do you get their attention these days? They have to be games, games that are fun to play, Right Then you're going to get a few on the website. So my colleagues heard this same basic presentation that I heard that prompted me to think maybe we should try to stimulate civics education again. And we. I got a few people together who thought maybe that was a good plan. And we started to work to see if we couldn't get some momentum in teaching young people again how government works and how they're part of it. And that was the effort for iCivics. And young people liked to play games. They like to go on the web and play games. So we got a little grant or two of money to get started and went to. There are several companies that design games that can be played on the Internet. And we went to what we thought was the best choice and got a couple of games designed to be played on the Internet. And then I got a chairperson in each of the 50 states to see if we couldn't get some interest in that state in teaching young people by using this website. And that's how we've proceeded. And we are now in all 50 states. And we have something like 19 games on now, and they all are flying, fun and interesting to play and effective as teaching Tools. And it's just working beautifully.

Well, yeah. At the time we're actually doing this interview, there's 38,000 teachers that are registered. So someone was watching that was a teacher student. What would they get out of iCivics.org, what would they learn?

Well, if they aren't aware of it, a teacher would see how effective the games are, how they really do teach something that the young people need to know that this is a subject that's important and this is a way of teaching it, and that it's fun. And so that's the main thing. And the young people who try playing a game get hooked. I've had many of them, little kids who start playing and their parents have to come back at 2am and force them to go to bed and quit playing games. I mean, it's fun.

That's a test. Cause I have a very smart guy by the name of Jer who's a former Make a Wish kid, and he's a very sharp individual.

Has he played I Civics?

I called him up one day. He'd been playing it for four hours straight.

That's. There you go.

He said, this is addictive. That's what he said to me. He goes, this is addictive. I'm like, that's in a good way.

All right. That is exactly right. Your example is the same one I've experienced, and it works. It's an effective teaching tool. And believe me, we have a whole generation or two of young people who need to get addicted to the games on iCivics.

Well, I'll tell you, I was playing it before I had to come here, but I had to be at the meeting on time so I could. But. But I realized just how much I don't know just from even playing the game.

Right. Yeah, it's pretty engaging, but it is very effective. And if you can get young people to use it and start, they're going to follow it up. They're going to play the games, and unfailingly, they're going to learn things that are important to learn for any citizen to know. It's really fun and good.

Well, okay, so this question I got here is what proportion of education do you think should be devoted to civics and history?

Well, I don't know. There are many other subjects that are deserving of knowledge as you're in high school and grade school. They have to learn math. They need to learn some science in there. How things work. You need to really cover every area. You need to teach them English, language, I think, and grammar. I mean, there are lots of things to learn. So I'm not trying to take away anything that we teach now. Just add to it a bit with how to write. Well, and we have developed some classes recently, courses recently for iCivics to teach better writing skills, better grammar and better writing skills and making what you say more interesting and valuable to look at.

Well, we're sitting here with a group of entrepreneurs. I mean, what sort of role do you think entrepreneurs and business owners could play in civic education?

Well, if they're lucky enough to have had ICIVICs, they're going to be more effective. They'll know how to write, write better themselves. They'll know how to be more effective leaders.

Hey, I hope you're enjoying this video. And I want to let you know that I have a new book that's come out and if you'd like to get it absolutely free, there's a link below in the description. Or you can wait until the end of this video or you can Simply go to joesfreebook.com and you can get a copy there. So now this is some stats here. According to circle, only 21 states test social studies. The situation gets worse when you look at states that test civic education specifically. So if it isn't mandated or tested, increasingly, it isn't taught to the detriment to.

That's the problem that I have faced trying to push I civics because most states don't mandate it anymore. So if it's just an elective, you've got a much steeper road to climb to get students. And I just am hoping that with the success we are enjoying with iCivics that more states will be inclined to make use of it for sure. And I think we're seeing success in that regard.

Well, I mean, you've had, you've had a huge impact so far in your team with doing this.

So far, so good.

Well, what advice or ideas can you give young people about the Supreme Court and how it relates to their life?

Well, I just tell them the same thing I would have told them years ago. It has nothing to do with I civics. But they have to understand the three branches of government at the federal level copied in most states. And they have to understand that learning how the government works is important and that if there is a question of what the law requires, sometimes the warring parties have to go to court to get that solved. So courts play an important role in our country and in our society and young people have to understand what that is. Of course, they play a role in the criminal system because they have to hear trials of people accused of crime. But beyond that, they have to resolve disputes among the branches of government and when there are disputes between the state and the federal government on some issue. So they have to know how cases get to court and that we have federal law that is applied in if the case produces an issue of federal law. Otherwise it's governed by state law. And then the judges have to look to the state law to apply.

What.

What are some of the most vivid memories you have as being the first, you know, U.S. supreme Court justice?

Female well, they're all special. It was an amazing experience the first time I went into the court. I had never been a lawyer in a case heard in the Supreme Court, so I had never appeared before the court as an advocate until I got there and saw how it had happened. I mean, that was kind of amazing. That had not been my field.

Well, you got 60,000 letters the first.

Year, something like that. And it was I only had one secretary. There was no way that she could handle opening the mail, much less typing answers. It was very challenging. And I used a few volunteers, daughters of friends of mine and things, who would come and they'd stay a while and open letters at the court and help us organize it in some fashion, hoping to answer some of them. It was very, very challenging. And I was not furnished with staff to do that. So it was hard.

Well, this would be an interesting question, like how did you deal with overwhelmed in public scrutiny? I mean, did you have trouble sleeping at night?

No, heaven's sakes. Nope. You just have to have a hard shell.

A hard shell. Did you always have that or did you develop it?

I don't know. But when I was in Arizona, I ended up running for and winning a position in the state seat Senate as a legislator and served in that capacity and in time became the Senate majority leader in Arizona. And that was an interesting experience to have to deal with the issues that a majority leader has to address and try to get things accomplished and achieve things in the legislative process. It was a good lesson, I suppose. And I had served as a judge as well at the state level, and that was useful. Also, not all the justices on the US Supreme Court have had experience at the state level as a trial court judge or as a judge at that level. And I think it's probably useful to have had that experience in my background.

So according to a Gallup Poll, Confidence in the U.S. supreme Court system is eroded. And so how important is that? How does it affect the country and the public.

It's important that the public has respect for the court system that we have. I think it's quite important. And if there's some decline at the moment, maybe it came about following Bush Gore case, I don't know. But I suspect that over time, given enough time, it will be back where it always had been, which is a pretty decent level of respect, I would think, for the courts. And the federal courts do deserve respect. I think they tend to be well managed and well served by the federal judges that are serving there. And so I think that the prospect is pretty good.

What work still needs to be done that's major in your opinion?

Oh, that's too broad a question. Work about what?

Gender equality as an example?

Well, we can do more. We're probably not there. Do you want 50% of your judges to be female? I don't know. We've never worked on the basis of a quota in our efforts to garner gender diversity. And I don't really advocate using a quota system to see if we have enough. I think it ought to be the selection should be based on merit, and I hope they will continue to be based that way. I think that serves us okay. I think we're doing all right.

Your book out of Order, you recently wrote that. What will someone learn from reading the book?

Well, you're going to have to read it and find out.

Well, if I wasn't going to read it.

No, it just talks about a lot of the questions.

If you notice, I was trying to plug your book to you. I am a marketing guy.

Okay, good. Well, if you do that, that would be nice. That would be nice.

That is funny. So. So what we're going to do, we're going to have some questions from the audience so that any of you that have questions for Justice o' Connor can give it a shot. Let's start with Dan and then we'll go over here.

So, justice, first of all, it's an honor to have you here.

Thank you.

Knowing what you know now, looking over your life, what would you say you're most proud of and what's the legacy.

That you really hope to leave for the future?

Well, I think it was important that at some point we had women on the U.S. supreme Court, and that's a pretty big step to take and an important one for the country. So, of course I'm pleased and proud to have been involved in that.

Steve.

Hi.

An appointment to the Supreme Court is for life, right?

Well, same for the trial court or the court of Appeals. It isn't just the Supreme Court. Federal judges are appointed actually, it says for good behavior.

Okay, so assuming you had good behavior for life, you were appointed to the highest position a judge could ever dream of.

Right.

So what went through your mind? What was the struggle like to. Or was there to give that up, to move on to?

It wasn't a struggle. My husband got Alzheimer's. Maybe you've heard of that. Maybe some of you will have it, and I wish you wouldn't. But he was ill and he needed help. And it just seemed to me that it was time for me to give up my day job and take care of John while he fought that horrible disease. So I did.

Justice o', Connor, pleasure to have you here today. I've been twice elected to the County Board of Education in Santa Cruz, so I have my pulse on public education and serve in that capacity. I think you've recently met our superintendent, Michael Watkins. Actually, this year, my wife and I made a very difficult decision to pull our kids out of the public education system and into a homeschool program. And part of that decision came about from I saw that, and I don't want to blame it on one set of policies, but let's say with no Child Left behind, we've become very test centric. And I think part of that fear of falling too behind, behind some of the India and China and math and science and so on and so forth has caused policymakers to put more attention towards testing to those specific subjects. And what I found is it got to be teaching, was trying to get the students to regurgitate facts, to pass certain tests and meet state and federal standards instead of teaching deductive reasoning, free thinking, entrepreneurship, the things that have made this country great traditionally. And congratulations, by the way, with iCivics. I mean, gamifying, you know, education. Hello. I mean, that's what interests them, you know. What's your current take? Can you comment on no Child Left behind or the current state of our education? Public education system, and are we going the right direction or not?

We got public schools in America in the first place with the argument that we've created a wonderful system of government. Now we need to educate our young people about how this government works and how they're part of it. That was the reason we got schools. I think it's a valid reason even today, and we need to teach that. So I am in favor of somehow, in all those years of grade school education, that we teach the basics of how the federal government is organized and how each American is part of that process in a way. And that most state governments follow the same system. And I think it's important to teach it and encourage young people to be interested. And I love it when teachers get the kids involved in current issues and let them follow it some way and write letters to public officials as a way of learning to write better. It's good for young people to learn. We're passing it all over to them, you know, so they need to know how it works.

Your Honor, thank you for being here. And one fellow attorney to another, I don't get to say that very often. So I wanted to first of all, thank you for all the interesting reading I had in law school on many of your decisions and you know, Rehnquist and Scalia and many of the others. I had to spend laborious hours and until 4 in the morning reading because I had to go to work the next day. But I'm fascinated with what you've done with iCivics.org and I wanted to know, has any effort been made towards turning it into apps for the iPhone and things? Because my daughter's a second grader and she spends more time on iPads than she does on her computer. And that would be something I would love to see at the time.

Yes. I'm sure that given time and financing, we will try to do that. I think you're right. It would be a good addition to the availability of icivics.

Yeah. Because I just volunteered at her second grade class earlier this week in Indiana and the teacher had me go out into the hallway with the children with their iPads and they were playing apps, math games. I'd love to see more civic oriented games.

I agree. I think your point is well taken and I hope we'll be able to do it. We'll need some nice contributors. I see a hand way back there. Are you contributing?

That's great.

Who knows? I will never be able to contribute. I have a question. I've lobbied on Capitol Hill on two issues that are near and dear to me. Maybe not to everybody in this room. One is postal reform and one is privacy issues. And my experience on Capitol Hill has been both very rewarding and very frustrating. Rewarding in that I feel like I'm in the game and I don't want to have regrets. Regrets later that if legislation happens that puts people out of work or out of business, I don't want to think that I didn't play my part. The frustrating part is that most politicians can't keep track of the issues. Re educating people on that. So my question for you, though, as it pertains to iCivics, is that we can get our kids interested in government. How do we get them to not be apathetic about being involved and being. I know that's got to be of part of the plan because I continue to go up there. I mean, I'm going, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I keep going up there because I know it's my duty to do that for my industry. And I'm trying to get people in my industry to do the same. And I'd just love to see if we can get the youth to think that way as well.

I think the teachers who've been successful in teaching young people how government works are those who think of a little project, a new bike page path, maybe along a certain trail, and then they ask the students, well, now, what governmental entity controls that bike trail? What is it? Is it the city? Well, if it is, why don't we write a letter? Why don't you children write a letter to the mayor and then the city council and get them going, doing exactly what you'd have to do if you were an adult with an issue that you wanted them to address and see if they can't get something done. Maybe schedule a hearing so they can go down to the city and talk to the mayor and the council and say, look, we really need this. And this is why. I mean, that's, I think, the way to teach them very effectively. And good teachers will do that. Oh, yes.

So leading on from your answer to Brian's question. So when the teacher. Teachers get into icivics and they use it, do they assign it as homework and then have discussions and create projects?

I don't know how the teachers do it. I assume some of them would do exactly that.

That's kind of exciting because teachers are looking for, you know, interesting things and maybe a teacher's guide for the teachers. If the chair people.

Well, they can make it very interesting if they want to, and they can find local current issues that the young people would readily understand and want to follow themselves.

That's kind of exciting.

It is.

And I have another question. So is there an online place for individuals to contribute?

Well, yeah, I think the website shows an.

We're going to do a handout to everyone, too.

So are you going to do a handout?

If, if you could, Lindsey? Thank you. We're going to hand these out to everyone. It'll give you all kinds of information about iCivics. If you want to get involved if you want to support.

Yeah, that's great. It has been really so exciting to work on it. And I strongly felt that our nation was drifting a little away from the notion of the citizens being directly involved with their legislative processes. And so I'm pleased to encourage them to get back into that. Thank you for being here. First of all, did you have a female mentor or someone you looked up to? Well, I admired my mother. I didn't. She wasn't working. It was not anybody who worked. I didn't have anybody specifically in mind as I progressed along, so that's hard. I really didn't. So they were mostly role models? Male role models? I have no idea. I just did what I did. Why? I'm not.

You didn't think about it too much?

I didn't ask. No, I didn't ask. I just did.

Hello, Justice O'. Connor. I have a business called workingmomsonly.com for the empowerment of the working mom for a healthier, wealthier, more balanced blended lifestyle. And I know that while you were going along with your career, you were also raising a family.

I was.

And so for you, is there one specific piece of advice that you could pass along to our Working Moms Only community?

Don't expect any time, not even five minutes for yourself. Forget that. Just forget it. Thank you. Okay.

It's like, I'm not going to take that.

Laura, along those same lines, there's a real nurturing, loving role you play as a mother versus that hard shell you talked about in the business world. Were you able to just change hats frequently or. I don't know. I hope I was able to do it enough to act like a caring mother. I think I was. I hope so. I tried.

How many children do you have? Just as a parent, how many children do you have?

Three sons. And that was a help to me, actually. If I'd had a daughter, I think it would have been more challenging, to tell you the truth. The boys were pretty nice. I never had to spend any time taking them shopping. They had zero interest in their clothes. Got them a pair of Levi's and a shirt, and they were fine. And so, you know, it just. That was a help to me, actually. You didn't have to worry about hair or anything else. It was very nice.

If someone could ask you a question about anything that they haven't, what would that question be?

Oh, I don't know. You think of it.

There's gotta be.

You're asking me. You think of it.

Let me do. Let me do It. All right. I wouldn't even know how to ask this one, but I've been informed that when your husband, John, when you first went out to a restaurant at Lazy Bee Ranch, something sort of happened that had to involve cattle and stuff. Do you know what I'm talking about?

No, I don't.

A little castration story. Could you maybe share that?

Oh, yes, of course.

Okay. I'm sitting there going, does she get answers?

No, no, I do remember what you're thinking of, because I think I wrote it and learned the books. Anyway, John and I had met in law school. We were both at Stanford Law School and had decided that, you know, we were kind of serious. And so John needed to go out to the Lazy Bee Ranch and see it with me. And we had a Christmas holiday or something. I don't know what it was. But anyway, we got in a car that one of us had, probably mine, I don't know, and we drove from Palo Alto out to the Lazy Bee Ranch, and we drove up. And when we got to the ranch, I think it was well into the early afternoon, maybe one or two o'. Clock. Drove up to the ranch house and I could see my mother in the kitchen window. And, oh, we called her Mo, short for mother. And so we saw emo in the kitchen. We got her out and we're so excited to see her and have her see John there at the ranch. And I said, well, where's Da? Short for Daddy. Okay, where's Da? She said, oh, he's down on the corral. They're branding some cattle down there. And I thought, well, that's kind of odd. I didn't know why, when he knew I was coming, he was down there with a bunch of calves to brand. But there he was. I looked down, so I said to John, we better go down to the creek. So we did. And the corral was full. I suppose some of you have seen bunches or herds of cattle waiting for branding and stuff. And they. They make funny sounds, you know, bawling and coughing and all the things that cattle do. And I took him in the corral and they had a branding fire lighted in the corral and they had branding irons in the branding fire to heat them up. And they were branding and dehorning and giving them injections for certain disease prevention. And so we got down there and my father went over, he said, john. And the way he told. When we got down there, the only thing he did to acknowledge our presence was touch his hat, branch him. You know, the Stetson Hat thing. And he just did like that. And then that was the indication that I know you're there. So we. We knew he knew we were there. And so in time, he came over and he said, john, glad to have you here. He said, here, John, try one of these. And what he had done is they had male calves that they were branding. They'd whack off the private parts down there and toss them in a bucket and deal with that later. So they had a bucket full of these things over there, and my father just grabbed a couple of them, and he took a baling wire that was on the fence. The baling wire was around bales of hay. And when you opened it, you took the wire off. And then he'd make little things and hang. Hang them on the fence to keep the baling wire. Don't throw anything away. And he unwound some baling wire and put two of these things on the bailing wire and stuck them in the branding fire. And then pretty soon, he turned them over. And then, sure enough, he had. John, John, come over here. You might want to try one of these. I mean, that was really mean. John's first visit to the ranch, and here he's offered these testicles. He did. He put the darn thing in his mouth and chewed it and swallowed. Very good, Mr. Day, is what he said. And I thought, oh, gosh, that was mean.

I got a marriage.

That was his introduction. That was his introduction.

I was put up to that question.

Just so you'll know.

Well, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Time for one more question?

Okay. Oh, there's a hand in the very back.

Justice o', Connor, we were talking at lunch, and you told the circumstances under which you were informed that you were going to be a Supreme Court. Could you tell the story? Because I found it fascinating.

Well, when Ronald Reagan was running for the presidency, he did not think that he was being as well received by women voters as by the men. And so he was trying to figure out ways or things he could say that would make his campaign a little more attractive to women voters. And so he just tried to figure things out and decide what to say. And some of the things turned out to be kind of interesting. And he did want to pave the way for appointing women to higher office. He had decided that was a good thing for him to say. So he said. He started saying, now, if I'm elected president, and if I get a chance, I'd like to put a qualified woman. Woman on the Supreme Court. And that was one of the things he would say, and he had not. He was elected president, as you know. And within six months, anyway, I think Justice Potter Stewart announced his retirement from the court. So there he was with an appointment to make to the court. And I don't know all the advice. Advice that he took, but certainly he did. The Attorney General was William French Smith, you remember him. He was a lawyer in Los Angeles. And he had become acquainted with Ronald Reagan. And he had served kind of as a campaign committee advisor. And he was a very impressive man. And I don't know who else he took advice from. But anyway, he decided to select a woman for the vacancy on the court when Potter Stewart retired. And I was in my office at the Court of Appeals in Arizona one afternoon and my phone rang and the operator said, judge o'? Connor? Yes, this is she. I have a call from the White House. All right, that's fine. And then the White House operator got on. Judge o', Connor, just a moment. For the president. And here came Ronald Reagan on the phone. Sandra. Yes, Mr. President, I'd like to announce your nomination tomorrow for the U.S. supreme Court. Is that all right with you? Now, what would you say? I'll ask you. I say, thank you, Mr. President. I'd be honored. So that's how it all happened. Kind of amazing. Very sudden.

That is odd.

Here's some last question.

During your lifetime, who do you believe is the president that's done the most for this country?

Oh, gosh, you're limiting me to my lifetime, are you? I don't know how to answer that. I don't know what I would say to you. I'll let you make your choice. Okay. All right.

Well, we got some of your books here. This is Lazy B, okay?

That's all about life on the ranch.

The majesty of the law.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's the court.

This one was not written by you, but do you like this book?

No. Do you?

And then that is Funny, out of Order, which is your most recent book, which I'm going to get a copy of this for everybody.

Okay.

We'll get everyone a copy of this. Thank you.

That's very kind.

What I will say, thank you so much for coming down, taking the time.

My pleasure. We've got a lot of talent assembled in the room, so that's good. I hope they use it wisely and help make the world a better place. Don't forget that role that you have. You probably want to make your product or whatever you sell better, but remember the country, too, and help try to make that a better place as well. Okay.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

I hope you found that video awesome and useful. So if you want to get a free copy of my book, I want you to click here. And if you want to watch some more videos that will be useful and awesome, click here. Go ahead. You're over here. Do it now.

Come on.

Thank you. Watch them.