In an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC's Good Morning America, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said that her native Arizona has to "put a good step forward to show that Arizona is not as a whole, a biased state."
An excerpt from the interview's transcript is given below.
She also pointed out that the state's Hispanic population has been here for a loooong time. You know, like, pre-whitey. She told the former Clinton White House staffer-turned-journo that "I think as a state, we respect and admire very much our Hispanic population."
O'Connor declined to take a stand on SB 1070, but said that "I'm sure sections of it will be tested."
The erstwhile supreme is 80, so she may have come of age in an Arizona that respected its Hispanic population. Hell, this state even once had a Mexican-born governor, Raul Castro, but the times they have a-changed.
Arizona is now rightfully known as a racist backwater with white supremacists such as state Senator Russell Pearce making its laws. It will take a lot to turn back the clock to a simpler time, assuming there ever was one.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm going to put you, have you put your state legislator hat back on. You state is in the middle of a lot of controversy over immigration. Had ... you been in the state legislature, [would] you have voted for that law?
O'CONNOR: I'm not going to answer that. I don't want to aggravate the debate in my state over that. It's been enacted, and I think what we have to look at now is, what does Arizona do now? How do we put a good step forward to show that Arizona is not as a whole, a biased state. And that we appreciate and respect the Hispanic population in our state very much.
They've been part of us since long before we became a state. [Francisco Vasquez de] Coronado marched through parts of Arizona, you know, when he first came from Spain and wanted to find the seven cities of gold. So we've ... been in contact for a long time in our state. And I think as a state, we respect and admire very much our Hispanic population.
STEPHANOPOULOS:Do you think the law is constitutional?
O'CONNOR: I'm not going to weigh in on it. I'm sure sections of it will be tested.
