Journalist and historian Evan Thomas, a 1977 law school graduate, published O’Connor’s biography “First” in 2019, drawing on exclusive interviews and early access to court records.
“Justice O’Connor (for) her 25 years was the fifth vote, the deciding vote 330 times,” Thomas told PBS in an interview about the book. “It was Justice O’Connor who upheld affirmative action for 25 years. It was Justice O’Connor who upheld the right to abortion for 25 years. She was a considerable force for religious freedom. She was the fifth vote in the Bush v. Gore case. She had enormous power, perhaps more power than any American woman has ever had.
Two UVA Law alumni have worked for O’Connor: Gary L. Francione, a 1981 graduate who worked during the 1982 term, and Stanley J. Panikowski, a 1999 graduate who worked during the 2000 term. Today, Francione is a professor at Rutgers Law School and Panikowski is co-chair of the appellate advocacy practice at DLA Piper.
As part of the interview process, Panikowski had lunch with O’Connor and his clerks, enjoying three bowls of the judge’s homemade spicy bean chili, he told Virginia Law Weekly in 1999.
O’Connor visited the law school several times in the 1980s. In 1985, O’Connor was one of three judges to hear arguments in the moot court competition finals. D. Ruth Buck, then a third-year law student and now a UVA law professor, was a finalist and won the Best Individual Attorney award.
“I would say it was more exciting than stressful,” Buck said, “thinking I would never be able to argue in front of a Supreme Court justice again.”
