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O'Connor appears on 'Late Night' and 'Today'

  • Sandra Day O'Connor
    Sandra Day O'Connor  William & Mary Chancellor and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor appeared on “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS last night and NBC’s “Today” show this morning to promote her new children’s book, “Finding Susie.”  
  • Sandra Day O'Connor
    Sandra Day O'Connor  William & Mary Chancellor and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor appeared on “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS last night and NBC’s “Today” show this morning to promote her new children’s book, “Finding Susie.”  
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William & Mary Chancellor and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS last night and NBC's "Today" show this morning to promote her new children's book, "Finding Susie."

During both interviews, O'Connor, who was the first woman on the Supreme Court, commented on the recent nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the court.

"I'm very happy we're getting another woman on the court, very," O'Connor told Letterman. "Our nearest neighbor is Canada, and Canada has also a nine-member supreme court. Their chief justice is woman, and four of the justices are female in Canada. And they manage pretty well."

During the "Today" show interview, Meredith Viera asked O'Connor if she missed her days on the Supreme Court.

"Not really," she said. "I'm too busy."

Included in those current responsibilities is O'Connor's role at William & Mary. Since her 2006 investiture, she has visited the College numerous times, speaking to classes, meeting with various campus groups and organizations and participating in annual ceremonies like Charter Day and Commencement. She was in Williamsburg just last month to greet the Class of 2009 and their families during the Commencement Ceremony.

O'Connor's new book, which is based on her childhood, is about a little girl who grows up on a ranch and wants a pet.

"I had several horses, because we rode all the time. And it was fun as a child to get on a horse and go riding, but horses aren't cuddly," she said on the "Today" show. "I really wanted some kind of a cuddly, little pet."

O'Connor said she tried to make several pets out of wild animals, including a coyote.

"You cannot make a pet out of coyote. My parents told me that. The cowboys told me that. But I didn't believe them," she said.