Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy in Phoenix: Bipartisan focus on civics and conversation

Sandra Day O'Connor was best known for her work on the U.S. Supreme Court, but her name and legacy abound in the Phoenix area, where her house remains and civics initiatives she pioneered continue.

After retiring from the court in January 2006, O'Connor went to work igniting passions for civics education and friendly, informed discourse.

In 2009, she founded the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute, now housed at the Arizona State University law school that also bears her name.

She also fought to preserve and relocate the adobe house she and her late husband, John, built in the 1950s in Paradise Valley. The house, now located in Papago Park, is open to the public for events.

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Moving the adobe house

When the O'Connors built their Phoenix-area home in the late 1950s, it was in the middle of the desert. Paradise Valley, and the Valley in general, eventually filled in the area.

While she grew up on the Lazy B Ranch near Duncan, the adobe home hosted some of O'Connor's memorable social events, where she socialized with people from all political backgrounds.

"Over supper, deep, direct, and respectful conversation would combine with friendship and wit to reach consensus," a brief history of the house by the O'Connor Institute said.

In 2006, O'Connor learned that the house was scheduled for demolition, the institute's website says. She wanted to save it, but it had to be moved — and for an adobe structure, that seemed impossible.

But, with more than $3 million in private fundraising, the house was relocated. It was disassembled brick by brick, with each getting a number. The pieces were trucked to Papago Park and reconstructed.

When O'Connor saw the newly reconstructed house, she admired its new landscaping and was overcome with emotion.

"It is absolutely astonishing to me that they could move it," she said of the house in 2010, according to an Arizona Republic article at the time. "When I first saw it (here), I just burst into tears. ... It's just a gorgeous place for it."

Now, the house can be used for events. Those have included a salon-style series of speakers on topics such as human trafficking and prisoners of war. The house's goal is to bring people together to solve problems, the institute says. It has hosted bipartisan legislative dinners and speakers of all political stripes.

"The Sandra Day O’Connor Institute conserves the O’Connor House as an icon for civil discourse and civic engagement," the institute's website says.

In 2017, though, the house was the site of some mudslinging, just not of the political variety. Volunteers put new mud onto the adobe bricks to protect the building's facade from erosion.

What the institute does

O'Connor's legacy of service and interest in bolstering civics live on through the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute.

The institute outlines civics education, civic engagement and civil discourse as its core work areas. It strives to continue O'Connor's work in these areas and help the community critically analyze facts so people can best participate in the policy arena. It holds a speaker series, public forums and a "collaboratory" that focuses on collaborative problem-solving.

The institute identifies itself as "non-partisan, objective, fact based, centrist, inclusive, collaborative, civil."

There's also Camp O'Connor, where middle-schoolers spend five days learning about government and visiting the Arizona Legislature, courts and political leaders.

Civics education beyond Phoenix

O'Connor cared deeply about civics education and wanted all kids to understand how policy and government worked, so they could better participate, understand and engage in democratic processes.

The organization she founded in 2009, iCivics, is an online program that uses games and digital programs to teach students about civics. Students put themselves into various roles via online games and work their way through civics issues, such as the path to citizenship, how the executive branch works and constitutional rights.

The group says it has provided civics education to more than 5 million students in every state in the country.

"I hope (students) will become effective citizens and leaders by using these tools to make their communities, their countries, and this world a better place," O'Connor said of the program, according to the organization's website.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sandra Day O'Connor legacy in Phoenix, from her adobe house to civics