May 14, 2003

The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, will discuss her new book The Majesty of the Law (Random) as guest of the Kentucky Author Forum May 14, 2003, in Louisville.

The first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, O’Connor was born on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas. She was raised on the Arizona-New Mexico border on a ranch called Lazy B, the title of her recent autobiography. The isolated ranch provided childhood adventure with horses and cattle but was 22 miles from the nearest school, requiring a commute beginning before daylight and returning in the dark. Consequently, her parents sent her to El Paso to live with her grandmother and attend school.

O’Connor laid the foundation of her later success at Stanford University, majoring in economics, earning a bachelor of arts degree with honors in 1950. She went on to law school at Stanford, graduating third in a class of 102 and serving as editor of the Stanford Law Review. The top-ranked student was future Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist. Another student in a class below her was John Jay O’Connor; the two married soon after her graduation in 1952.

Because many firms were reluctant to hire a female attorney, O’Connor accommodated her career to the demands of family in the early years of her marriage. Active in civic affairs, including a stint as district chair in the Republican Party, she raised three sons in the Phoenix, Ariz. area.

Becoming known as a bright, hard worker, O’Connor joined state government in 1965 as assistant attorney general, where she served until 1969 when the governor appointed her to a vacant seat in the Arizona Senate. She won elections in 1970 and 1972, becoming majority leader in 1972 as a Republican.

Switching careers, O’Connor won election as a judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court in 1974. Gaining a reputation for being tough and fair, she remained politically active, backing Ronald Reagan in his attempt to take the 1976 nomination from President Gerald Ford. In 1979, she won appointment to Arizona’s Court of Appeals and started to gain national attention with her views supporting state judgments in judicial issues.

Reagan made his historic Supreme Court appointment of O’Connor in 1981, fulfilling a promise he made to address the criticism of his opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in 1980. Known as a conservative, O’Connor also has shown independence and continues to serve now as a veteran associate justice.

In her new book The Majesty of the Law, O’Connor explores the law, her life as a justice, and how the court has evolved and continues to function, grow and change as an American institution.

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

1:30 p.m. Discussion with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, at the Brandeis School of Law, Belknap Campus. Limited to university students and faculty; no more tickets available.

Kentucky Center for the Arts

5 Riverfront Plaza, Downtown Louisville

The evening's activities are as follows:

5 p.m. Hawley-Cooke Booksellers book sale and wine and cheese reception provided by Brown-Forman, Lobby

6 p.m. Interview with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Interviewer to be announced), Bomhard Theatre.

The interview will be broadcast Sunday, June 22, at 10 p.m. on KET2.

Master of Ceremonies is Forum Editor/Book Editor Keith Runyon of The Courier-Journal

7 p.m. Q & A followed by book signing on Bittners' stage set

A $16 ticket includes the above three events. A limited number of discounted tickets of $5 each are available for U of L students, faculty and staff at the KCA box office --U of L photo ID is required.

8:15 p.m. Dinner with the author, hosted by the University of Louisville, at the Humana Building, 25th floor, catered by Vincenzo’s

A $100 package ticket includes the above events plus dinner with Justice O’Connor (Proceeds go to the nonprofit Kentucky Author Forum; $35 is tax-deductible.)

Tickets are available at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, 502-584-7777(1-800-775-7777). In addition calls may be placed through TicketMaster at 502-361-3100.

A taped version of the event will be made available at The Louisville Free Public Library, St. Matthews/Eline Branch, 3940 Grandview Ave., at 11 a.m. May 22. There is no fee involved, but those interested must sign up in advance due to limited seating. Call the library directly at 574-1771 for further information.

WFPL 89.3 FM and Kentucky Educational Television (KET) will record the event for future broadcast, which will be distributed nationally to PBS affiliates.

The Kentucky Author Forum series is produced by Mary Moss Greenebaum and sponsored by the University of Louisville and Brown-Forman, in cooperation with Hawley-Cooke Booksellers; Bittners of Louisville; WFPL, Louisville's NPR Station for News; The Courier-Journal; KET, the Kentucky Network; and the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

624 West Main, Second Floor
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Phone 502.589.2884
Fax 502.589.4334
email KYFORUM@aol.com