Sandra Day O’Connor’s Religious Freedom Legacy

During her nearly quarter century on the Supreme Court bench, she refined faith-related funding rules, changed how the court assessed religious displays on public property and helped prompt Congress to pass one of the most important religious freedom laws in recent history. Many of O’Connor’s faith-related achievements stem from the fact that, throughout her Supreme Court career, she was a swing vote. She moved back and forth between the group of conservative justices and the group of liberal ones, trying to find common ground and choosing a side when compromise wasn’t possible.