O'Conner was the swing vote in the modern era though. Warren's court was a complete disaster. O'Conner is so frustrating because if a conservative had been in her place so many laws would be different. I can't tell you how many 5-4 decisions have gone against us because of O'Conner.
I should amend that along with O'Conner Warren Rudman and senator Sununu has done the most damage. If it weren't for them Edith Jones would have been Bush's nominee instead of Souter. John Ashcroft was even in the running. Think how different all those decisions would have been if it weren't for those two rinos.
Ignored in all this, too, is John Paul Stevens. Stevens is the most leftist anti-Constitutional member of the court, and appointed by a Republican President, Ford. I have to wonder if Stevens has even READ the Constitution. Since we have a 7-2 GOP to 'Rat Court, it ought to resemble votes more along those lines. As for whom was behind O'Connor, I always thought it was Goldwater. O'Connor served in the AZ State Senate from 1969-75 (serving, in fact, as Majority Leader from 1973-75), and so his people were more knowledgeable about her record. Both Goldwater and O'Connor were decidedly pro-abort (sadly, his last term in the Senate was an embarrassment and more noteworthy for his deception with regards to securing it against a pro-life Democrat he barely beat in 1980 - the irony not lost, imagine the so-called "father of the Conservative movement" losing in the very election that saw the Conservative movement come to fruition - Goldwater lied that he would support pro-life causes, and did absolutely the opposite - in fact, both of his wives were apparently big movers and shakers in "Planned Infanticide" - and as he got older and more embittered, he came to detest and actively worked to sabotage the Religious Conservative movement). I believe President Reagan was lied to regarding what she supported and how she would be likely to vote once on the highest court. Though she has not been as horrid as Stevens, she, along with Souter and the 2 'Rat-appointed troglodytes, have certainly been colossal disappointments, if not outright abominations to the court. One had hoped that the Rehnquist Court would've been able to start to right the wrongs of injustice dating to the Warren era, though with the "5", have compounded the injustices and opened up new ones that will take a very long time to remedy - if ever.