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  • Justice O'Connor draws big crowd in Billings

BILLINGS - She may have stepped off the bench, but life hasn't stopped for Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Thursday, the federal courthouse in Billings was packed with hundreds of people wanting to see Justice O'Connor in a special sitting. Also joining Justice O'Connor was Ninth Circuit Judges Sidney R. Thomas of Billings and William A. Fletcher of San Francisco. The judges heard oral arguments in three cases that dealt with the Freedom of Information Act request, reasonable search and seizure and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Judge O'Connor then spent time with members of the Yellowstone Area Bar Association, and left quite an impression.

"I think that the way, she's so quick-witted the fact that she can just respond, either on the bench or here at lunch making jokes. She's soo quick and intelligent and it's amazing to watch her," said Sarah Hart, law student.

Hart added that "as a female student there's really no one whose more influential than she is. She has literally set the bar as high as it can go."

Justice O'Connor also met with local educators.

Eileen Sheehy a Billings West High School teacher said, "It's tremendously helpful to know that someone of Sandra Day O'Connor's stature cares about something that affects our lives."

At the meeting Justice O'Connor said, " about half the states no longer make civics and or American history a requirement for high school. We have to teach every generation about our system it isn't handed down through the gene pool."

And Justice O'Connor is taking that message to the web with a special site called www.icivics.org designed to teach teens about democracy in this new day and age.