Justice & Law Quote by Patricia Ireland

Calling Sandra Day O'Connor an "icon" while preemptively conceding disagreement is activist diplomacy at its most strategic. Patricia Ireland, speaking from inside the long game of feminist politics, is doing two things at once: paying tribute to a figure whose symbolic value is enormous, and insulating her movement from the trap of hero worship.

The intent is coalition maintenance. O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, carried representational gravity that mattered even when her jurisprudence frustrated reproductive-rights advocates or civil-rights groups. Ireland's line makes room for that tension without letting it turn into a purity test. "Most of us" is a small piece of social engineering: it turns admiration into a norm, nudging skeptics to stand with the group, while also presenting the movement as reasonable rather than doctrinaire.

The subtext is a warning about how power works. Icons are useful, but they can become alibis: proof-of-progress narratives that institutions love because they let structural inequities persist. By admitting "we do not agree with all of her decisions", Ireland signals that the goal isn't symbolic firsts for their own sake; it's outcomes. It's also a refusal to let a conservative-leaning swing justice be reduced to a mascot for "women in leadership", as if gender alone settles the political ledger.

Context matters: Ireland led NOW in an era when the Court's center was up for grabs and legitimacy politics were constant. Praising O'Connor's historic presence while keeping her record open for critique is how you honor the milestone without surrendering the mandate.