A fair and impartial judiciary is a cornerstone of our system of government. Yet in recent days the judiciary has been subject to escalating attacks that threaten our nation's tradition of judicial independence. The judicial nomination and confirmation process has become a high-stakes partisan battle. Disagreement with judicial decisions has led to calls for the impeachment of federal judges and the recall of state judges. Congress has sought to influence the outcome of a single state case.

To address this challenge, Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer chaired "Fair and Independent Courts: A Conference on the State of the Judiciary," a two-day event in September 2006 co-sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center and the American Law Institute. A series of recommendations were developed by the Conference participants.

Conference participants recommended an ongoing effort to achieve their advocacy goals, and so the Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center was formed.

Activities past and upcoming include:

• On October 2, 2008 the Sandra Day O'Connor Project will host our annual conference at Georgetown University Law Center.  Titled Our Courts and Corporate Citizenship, the invitation-only conference will explore the idea that without reliable courts markets cannot flourish and that a lack of faith in the fair application of the law is an obstacle to market growth.  Speakers include Dr. Alan Greenspan, Justice Stephen Breyer and Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
• The Sandra Day O'Connor Project is working with the Gilder-Lehrman institute of New York to present a three-day symposium in August of 2008 for master high school teachers on the origins of the independent judiciary.  Justice O'Connor will be one of the instructors.

• On July 2, 2008 the Sandra Day O'Connor Project facilitated Justice O'Connor's participation at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.  Justice O'Connor was joined by the Chief Judge of New York Judith Kaye, former Solicitor General Ted Olson, and Professor Stephen Carter to discuss "How We Choose Our Judges."

• On June 2, 2008 The Sandra Day O'Connor Project and Justice O'Connor participated in the Games For Change Conference in New York, New York.  Media coverage of the event can be found here.

• With funding from the Sandra Day O'Connor Project the Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona School of Law has organized regional conferences modeled after our 2006 conference.  Conferences have been held in Texas, Chicago, Georgia, and New York.

• The 2007 Sandra Day O’Connor Project Conference took place on October 17, 2007 at Georgetown University Law Center. Titled State Courts: the Debate over Judicial Elections and Judicial Selection, the invitation-only Conference attracted more than 100 lawyers, state judges and opinion leaders from the corporate, non-governmental organization and media fields for discussions on the troubling trend of highly politicized state court judicial elections, among other topics. A book of original scholarly papers was distributed as a background document for Conference attendees. The 2007 Conference is available as a webcast. The Conference was the location of the release of a survey on "Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts" conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The Conference also resulted in a set of recommendations for state court judges, lawyers, bar associations and others.
• The Sandra Day O'Connor Project, along with co-sponsor the National Center on State Courts, sent its Director, Chief Justice Durham of Utah, and Chief Justice Demuniz of Oregon to discuss issues of judicial independence at the National Governors Association Symposium for Governors' Counsel in Portland, Oregon on September 27, 2007.

Other efforts include:

• Our Courts
• The Project publishes articles and monographs on judicial independence;
• The Project plans and participates in education programs for associations, corporations, and other interested groups on issues relating to judicial independence.
  For more information, please contact Meryl Chertoff.