Interviewing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for the Jan. 25 Dateline NBC, Katie Couric devoted the interview to O’Connor’s struggle to rise through the male-dominated legal profession and tales from her upbringing on a ranch. Couric deviated into controversial politics just once — to take a shot at the Supreme Court’s Bush vs. Gore decision.
O’Connor sat down with Couric to promote a new book which she wrote with her brother, Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in America’s Southwest.
After mentioning how abortion has been a volatile issue before the Court during O’Connor’s tenure, but without passing judgment on court rulings, Couric asserted: “Passions ran high again when the Supreme Court found itself casting the deciding vote on the 2000 presidential election.”
Couric pressed O’Connor: “Bush versus Gore. I know you don’t want to get into details at all but you did join the 5-4 vote to stop the Florida recount and that in essence delivered the White House to George Bush. Can you describe the atmosphere at all, Justice O’Connor?”
O’Connor: “I just think that’s inappropriate.”
Couric: “That’s exactly the word some critics used to describe the decision. Critics who charged the Court had succumbed to politics, forever tarnishing its image and reputation for impartiality.”
No more so than Couric long before did to her own image and reputation for impartiality.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
