"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Justice O’Connor Visits Cherokee Nation

"Former Supreme
Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor."

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – The Cherokee Nation was honored this weekend with a visit from former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Justice O’Connor spent Friday and Saturday in Tahlequah at the invitation of Principal Chief Chad Smith. Now retired, Justice O’Connor was the first female Justice to sit on the United States Supreme Court.

“We were privileged last night to have dinner in the wonderful school area,” stated Justice O’Connor. “The monies that the Nation is earning with the casinos that it has, and with other ventures in which it is engaged, are being used for the betterment of the tribe in very real ways.”

The Justice was referring to her tour of the tribe’s language immersion school, where she met the children and was treated to a musical performance in Cherokee by the first grade students. O’Connor remarked on the fluency of the children and supported the importance of teaching children multiple languages at the earliest possible age. She was surprised by the delicious seven-course meal served to her by Cherokee Nation’s Job Corps students and commented on the ingenuity of the tribe in using its professional hospitality employees in practical programs to mentor young people interested in the culinary arts.

Justice O’Connor has a special interest in encouraging young women to reach their goals and she repeatedly stated her support of the Cherokee society’s inclusion of women in positions of importance.

“The Cherokees have always regarded themselves as a people of law,” stated Principal Chief Smith in his welcome to the Justice. “It is particularly a great honor to have in Tahlequah, in this historic Cherokee Nation capitol, the first woman Justice on the United States Supreme Court. The Cherokees knew, long before the white man, that much of the justice in the traditional sense is understood and enforced by the beloved women of the tribe. In Justice Sandra Day O’Connor we have one of the truly beloved women of American justice.”

In honor of Justice O’Connor’s visit, the Cherokee Nation hosted a Youth Leadership Conference. The speakers included Justice O’Connor, former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Nation Speaker Meredith Frailey and Principal Chief Chad Smith. Introductions were made by Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons and the panel was moderated by Judge Robert Henry of the 10th Circuit Court.

“The Cherokee are a very special people,” said Justice O’Connor. “It is so impressive, I mean you had a legal and court system long before the United States did. I feel so privileged to be here and what touches me particularly is the extent to which traditionally the Cherokee people have placed a lot of reliance on the women. I like that. And I think a people and a society that learns to trust and rely on women, as well as men, is one that is much better off as a result. That’s what I have been privileged to hear and experience here and I am very grateful. I know that I will leave here enriched in so many ways by what I have seen and heard and learned.”

“There were great days in the Cherokee Nation,” said Judge Robert Henry, a long-time friend of Justice O’Connor and great admirer of the progress of the Cherokee Nation. “But the greatest days are yet to come and we saw them in those children singing last night.”