The Pragmatic Middle and Its Consequences: The Influence of Justice O’Connor

• Published in: The Supreme Court and the Development of Law pp. 109 - 128
• Main Author: Smith, Christopher E
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United States Palgrave Macmillan 2016; Palgrave Macmillan US
• Subjects: Crime & criminology; Prisoners’ rights; Sandra O’Connor; Supreme Court
• DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-56763-5_6
• ISBN: 9781137567628; 1137567627

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor sought to insure that prison officials’ interests in security and order were protected as she recognized limited constitutional rights for prisoners. Her pragmatic position was not driven by a particular judicial philosophy. As the middle justice in a frequently divided Court, she had opportunities to write influential majority opinions, especially in Turner v. Safley (1987), the case that established a rational basis test for certain First Amendment issues. Justice O’Connor’s role illustrated how justices whose decision-making approaches place them in the middle of a divided Supreme Court can gain extra influence by determining the winning side and judicial reasoning in contested cases.