http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...urt_oconnor_dc
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the
U.S. Supreme Court and a moderate conservative who often cast the key decisive vote, announced her retirement on Friday, setting the stage for a major political battle over her successor.
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"This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor," O'Connor, 75, said in a letter to
President Bush.
"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms," O'Connor said in the one-paragraph letter released by the Supreme Court.
Her resignation was announced just four days after the end of the court's 2004-2005 term. There had been widespread speculation that Chief Justice
William Rehnquist, 80, who has thyroid cancer, would resign at the end of the term, but even some of her colleagues did not think O'Connor would be leaving.
Her resignation will allow Bush to make his first appointment to the nine-member high court. It also could trigger a fierce confirmation fight in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats, and could threaten a shaky truce over judicial nominations.
Her resignation will result in the first vacancy on the court in more than a decade, the longest period of stability since 1823.
O'Connor gave no reason in the letter for why she was resigning. Her husband has Alzheimer's disease.
A Supreme Court spokeswoman said O'Connor needs to spend time with her husband.
Wow. Didn't see that coming. I think we all figured Rhenquist was going first.
Any bets as to who replaces her?
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