Sandra Day O’Connor: Chief Diplomat

It looks like Justice O’Connor is not going to slow down much in retirement. As this article notes, she spent last week attending a conference of the Central and Eastern European Legal Initative (CEELI) in Istanbul. Apparently, Justice O’Connor is passionate about building and promoting independent judiciaries in the former Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union. Interestingly, she herself apparently first gained notice from former Chief Justice Burger by attending an international conference in the UK way back when. So the Court is not only losing an associate justice, but probably its “Chief Diplomat” as well.