Alligator Online
By DIANA MAZZELLA
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor praised the new facilities of UF's Levin College of Law at its Friday dedication, but she also emphasized the importance of keeping the judiciary branch apart from political wranglings.
"The building is beautiful, and with the new high-tech classrooms and the additional library space, the law school is well equipped to meet the demands of contemporary legal education," she said.
Her audience included Florida Supreme Court justices, members of the Florida Board of Governors and UF Board of Trustees as well as other federal, state and university officials, college alumni, professors and students. While a release said that 1,000 tickets were handed out, the Associated Press reported about 500 people in attendance.
O'Connor said she wanted to concentrate on "one important use of the information that students will receive as they use the library here, and what role the students will play, whether they know it or not, in maintaining individual liberty and the rule of law."
Her primary focus was the importance of keeping the judicial branch free from political pressure.
"If you believe ... that the courts are important guardians of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in our common law system, you know that the system breaks down without judicial independence," she explained.
"Now, judicial independence is hard to define," she said. "But if I may coin a phrase, I know judicial independence when I see it."
O'Connor announced July 1 she would step down from her seat on the court, but after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death a little more than a week ago, she said she would remain on the court until her replacement is found and confirmed.
She said this was her first time in Gainesville but hoped it would not be her last.
Second-year law student Vanessa Grant, 24, said O'Connor spoke about personal experiences and had a question-and-answer session before the 11 a.m. dedication.
"She really opened herself up to the students," Grant said.
Grant added that she was surprised O'Connor came for the dedication.
"She's everybody's hero," she said.
The last Supreme Court justice to visit the law school was Rehnquist, when he spoke at its third major renovation in 1984, said Robert Jerry, the college's dean.
"I think everything that she said is of enormous value to everyone, particularly law students," said Juan F. Perea, a constitutional law professor with the college for 15 years.
Though the law school has "excellent" faculty and students, its facilities had interfered with day-to-day education, he said, citing that the school has had only four major construction changes in almost 100 years of existence.
The new $25 million building project took about two years and funds came from the university, the state and more than 600 private donors, said Patrick Shannon, associate dean of administrative affairs.
The facilities include the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center and 18 new classrooms.
Kathie Price, associate dean for library and technology, said the center formerly had no group study rooms, whereas now it has 13.
Students used to have to study at the shaded picnic tables surrounding the law school, she said.
"Our faculty and students sacrificed a great deal during the past two years," Price said.
Though the students have a freshly carpeted and brightly lit library now, they had to go to Butler Plaza to access the center's approximately 600,000 volumes before the renovation, said Rick Donnelly, associate director of the center.
UF President Bernie Machen hailed the renovation and addition as an enhancement to the university.
"Today, we take another step in the university's steady progress toward being ranked among the nation's finest universities," he said.
O'Connor ended her remarks with an optimistic warning.
"We must be ever vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies," she said. "We can't just trust the courts to protect themselves. For one thing someone has to people those courts on both sides of the bench, and those someones are some of you."