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WASHINGTON -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and a moderate voice on such issues as abortion and the death penalty, said today she is retiring from the court.
"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms," O'Connor wrote in a letter to President Bush. "I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure."
O'Connor, 75, said she would leave before the start of the court's next term in October or whenever the Senate confirmed her replacement.
The president paid tribute to O'Connor in a brief address from the Rose Garden. He did not immediately appoint a successor, but said he would do so in a "timely manner" so the position is filled before the court's fall term.
"America is proud of Justice O'Connor's distinguished service, and I'm proud to know her. Today, she has the gratitude of her fellow citizens," Bush said. "Throughout her tenure, she has been a discerning and conscientious judge, a public servant of complete integrity."
In addition to receiving her resignation letter, the president also said he had a "warm conversation" with O'Connor. Bush declared today as a time to pay tribute to O'Connor. He gave no hints who he would appoint to the court.
"I take this responsibility seriously. I will be deliberate and thorough in this process," Bush said. "I will continue to consult with members of the United States Senate. The nation deserves, and I will select, a Supreme Court justice that Americans can be proud of."
He urged the Senate to give "fair treatment, a fair hearing and a fair vote," to his appointee.
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on the president to consult with the Senate to ensure a smooth confirmation.
"I hope that the president will honor not only Justice O'Connor's record of service," Leahy said, "but also her judicial independence, by respecting that tradition of meaningful consultation and in finding a nominee who will unite and not further divide the nation."
While a Supreme Court retirement was widely anticipated this week, it was presumed that Chief Justice William Rehnquist would step down. O'Connor's decision threw an unexpected curve into the political fight to choose a new justice.
The retirement allows Bush to appoint his first justice to the court. There has not been an opening on the court for 11 years, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history.
The White House has refused to comment on any possible nominees or whether Bush would name a woman to succeed O'Connor. Her departure leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only other woman among the current justices.
Possible replacements include Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales and federal Courts of Appeals Judges J. Michael Luttig, John Roberts, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Michael McConnell, Emilio Garza and James Harvie Wilkinson III.
Others mentioned are former Solicitor Gen. Theodore Olson, lawyer Miguel Estrada and former Deputy Atty. Gen. Larry Thompson, but Bush's pick could be a surprise choice not well known in legal circles.
Another prospective candidate is Edith Hollan Jones, a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who also was considered for a Supreme Court vacancy by President Bush's father.
O'Connor's appointment in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, quickly confirmed by the Senate, ended 191 years of male exclusivity on the high court. She wasted little time building a reputation as a hard-working moderate conservative who emerged as a crucial power broker on the nine-member court.
O'Connor often lines up with the court's conservative bloc, as she did in 2000 when the court voted to stop Florida presidential ballot recounts sought by Al Gore and effectively called the election for President Bush.
As a "swing voter," however, O'Connor sometimes votes with more liberal colleagues.
Perhaps the best example of her influence is the court's evolving stance on abortion. She distanced herself both from her three most conservative colleagues, who say there is no constitutional underpinning for a right to abortion, and from more liberal justices for whom the right is a given.
Cue the next Nasty Abortion Debate™.