>>>>Powell's vote did not decide Roe v. Wade.
If he voted Yea on that decision, who cares? It was still one of the worst decisions made since Roger Tanney was alive.
Powell was new to the court. If Hugo Black had been on the Court he would have voted against Roe. Or if he had, it would have been on narrow grounds Any opinion he wrote would have cast scorn on the word "privacy" used in this way.
Did you know that Roger Taney (pronounced TAW NEE) was a brother-in-law of Francis Scott Key?
O'Connor's views on quotas are identical to those of the late Justice Powell, and the reasoning that went into her decisions regarding this issue mirrored his, specifically in reference to Bakke.
As Justice Powell did in the Bakke case a quarter century ago, Justice O'Connor cites Harvard College's careful and flexible approach to admissions as a model - an approach in which 'all factors that may contribute to student body diversity are meaningfully considered alongside race in admissions decisions,'" said Summers.
"The affirmation of these principles is as heartening as it is important.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/07.17/13-affirm.html
Supreme Court Decisions: On June 23, 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued its much awaited decisions in these two cases. The Court issued its Grutter decision first--a 5-4 decision written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In it the Court endorsed Justice Powell's decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, finding diversity in higher education to be a compelling state interest and upholding the law school admissions program...
http://www.aaup.org/Issues/AffirmativeAction/aalegal.htm