Lawmakers rejected a plan to commission a statue of Arizona icon Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, and display it in the U.S. Capitol building, with conservatives saying that the idea of honoring O’Connor, a moderate Republican, was offensive.
“We cannot allow the distinguished members of this body to have to suffer walking by such an undistinguished jurist when they enter here in the morning,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said.
The statue would not have been placed at the Arizona Capitol, but instead inside Statuary Hall in the nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Kolodin said that O’Connor, who was the first female majority leader in the nation while she served in the Arizona Senate, was a good lawmaker but an awful Supreme Court justice. He specifically took offense with O’Connor’s rulings on abortion and affirmative action.
Rep. Neal Carter, R-San Tan Valley, also stated his dislike of O’Connor, recalling a time in law school when an unnamed sitting Supreme Court justice told Carter that O’Connor was the “worst thing that happened to the federal bench.”
“I believe that we should honor people, things and institutions for their merit, and not merely because they came from this state,” Carter said on the House floor.
Democrats, meanwhile, largely voted no on the resolution due to concerns voiced by the O’Connor family.
Scott O’Connor, son of the late justice, previously told the Arizona Mirror that he was not aware of the project before it was announced and felt an already existing project to create a statute at the United States Capitol was a better fit.
In April 2022, a bipartisan bill was signed by President Joe Biden to create statues honoring both O’Connor and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The measure includes an appropriation of $500,000 to create the statue, which will reside in the U.S. Capitol.
“I remember watching a committee, her loved ones saying they were not in favor and did not support it,” Rep. Quantá Crews, D-Phoenix, said. Crews added that she was voting no “out of respect” for the family.
Other Democrats wondered if the project would have actually led to a statute in the Capitol.
“It is not guaranteed that her statue would be in Statuary Hall,” Rep. Nancy Guiterrez, D-Tucson, said. “That is not something we get to tell the Capitol.”
In the end, House Joint Resolution 2002 failed on a 21-38 vote.
Phoenix Republican Rep. Matt Gress, who sponsored the legislation, said that he was glad to know that another project would eventually create a statue of the former Arizonan at the country’s Capitol, even if his attempt to do so failed.
“She was a pioneer, a trail blazer. Everything that Arizona represents,” Gress said, mentioning her work at the Arizona Capitol as well as her time on the bench. “So, while this legislation will not pass today, I am warmed by the notion that she still will have a statute in Congress at some point in the future. That she will be remembered and revered for her service to the state.”