"Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability"
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O'Connor frames equality not as a moral crusade but as a civic investment, and that choice is doing quiet, strategic work. The line is built like a judicial brief: broad claim ("Society as a whole"), sweeping assurance ("immeasurably"), then a carefully enumerated set of workplace goods ("respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration"). By the time she arrives at the charged terrain of race and gender, the argument has already been positioned as pragmatic and national, not factional.
The subtext is classic O'Connor: move the conversation away from grievance and toward legitimacy. "Opportunity to earn" matters. It implies dignity without entitlement, progress without promising outcomes, and it nudges skeptics to accept inclusion as merit's natural habitat rather than its enemy. "Based on ability" is both the carrot and the shield. It appeals to the American reflex for fairness while also reassuring those wary of quotas that the system remains anchored in competence.
Contextually, this is the voice of a justice who often wrote from the middle of the Court, attentive to how arguments land beyond the bench. In equal protection and employment cases, O'Connor repeatedly treated diversity and nondiscrimination as instruments of institutional strength: better workplaces, sturdier public trust, fewer social fractures. The brilliance is its restraint. It makes a case for gender and racial equality by refusing to sentimentalize it, insisting instead that exclusion is a self-inflicted economic and democratic wound.
The subtext is classic O'Connor: move the conversation away from grievance and toward legitimacy. "Opportunity to earn" matters. It implies dignity without entitlement, progress without promising outcomes, and it nudges skeptics to accept inclusion as merit's natural habitat rather than its enemy. "Based on ability" is both the carrot and the shield. It appeals to the American reflex for fairness while also reassuring those wary of quotas that the system remains anchored in competence.
Contextually, this is the voice of a justice who often wrote from the middle of the Court, attentive to how arguments land beyond the bench. In equal protection and employment cases, O'Connor repeatedly treated diversity and nondiscrimination as instruments of institutional strength: better workplaces, sturdier public trust, fewer social fractures. The brilliance is its restraint. It makes a case for gender and racial equality by refusing to sentimentalize it, insisting instead that exclusion is a self-inflicted economic and democratic wound.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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