She's so sorry

I'm sure you heard retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor issued a sort of pseudo-mea culpa the other day. She didn't apologize for inflicting the Bush years on us by voting to appoint him president, but she was very sorry SCOTUS took the case at all because, in retrospect, it made the court look like a gaggle of politicking assclowns.

Today Linda Hirschman at TNR unearths a tasty bit of historical trivia making it rather clear Justice O'Connor voted her personal politics in Bush v. Gore.

Although most of O’Connor’s papers are private, her legendary secrecy could not prevent the publication of her correspondence with others, including Goldwater, who saved her letters to him. On November 1, 1988, then-sitting Justice O’Connor wrote to Goldwater to bemoan the state of the nation on the eve of the presidential contest between Democrat Michael Dukakis and Republican George H.W. Bush.

"A week until election day," Justice O'Connor wrote. "Despite your advice, the campaign never really hit the basic issues. People are tired of it all. Many will not vote. I will be thankful if George B. wins. It is vital for the Court and the nation that he does.” (emphasis mine.)

Not hard to imagine she felt the same way about his son.