When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was reviewing applications for law clerks in 1982, one stood out: that of a recent law graduate named Stewart Schwab.

"He had a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics," noted O'Connor. "I thought we could use that."

The former clerk, who is now the Allan R. Tessler Dean of Cornell Law School, invited his former boss, now retired at 77, to visited him on campus, Oct. 21-23, as the Law School's 2007 Jurist in Residence.

In addition to delivering the Konvitz lecture, O'Connor presented a paper she co-authored with Schwab in a faculty workshop on the future of affirmative action. In her 2003 Supreme Court majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger, O'Connor had noted the "educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body" and ruled race could be a factor in college admissions. During the workshop she worried about "the fragility of the decision" and voiced her concern that minority admissions were significantly down at universities in states where affirmative action in college admissions has been banned. "We've got to do what we can to improve these statistics," she said.

During her visit O'Connor also served as chief justice in a Law School Moot Court competition involving an imaginary case that used real issues she had ruled on; took part in a well-attended "fireside chat" with Cornell Provost Biddy Martin; spoke to government and civics classes at Ithaca High School; and played tennis with Schwab. Prior to arriving on campus, O'Connor, Schwab and others went fly-fishing in the Catskills.

She said she disliked the attention that being the first woman on the court brought her but is pleased that women in law school and law practice are now commonplace. "I have lived through an entire revolution," she declared.

Speaking about her visit to Seneca Falls, N.Y., the site of the first Women's Rights Convention, she said: "I was privileged to join a marvelous group of women and visit the spot where that first conference was convened in 1848. We read Elizabeth Cady Stanton's speech. It was so moving it brought tears to our eyes. That was the start."

Other remarks by O'Connor:

On her first job: "I graduated first in my class at Stanford Law School. I wanted to work at work worth doing, but as a woman I couldn't get an interview, much less a job. I didn't spend a lot of time wringing my hands though." She talked her way into a non-paying job as a lawyer with San Matteo County that led to a paying one.

On her role at the Supreme Court: "I decided I'd put all my energy into deciding a case, and not look back later and second guess what I'd done."

On how that role is portrayed in the media: "I detest the term 'swing vote.' What does that conjure? Someone sitting on a swing, back and forth, doesn't matter."

On her female colleague on the High Court, Cornellian Ruth Bader Ginsburg: "She writes well, thinks well, is enormously competent."

On the world's most pressing problem: "There is not enough water worldwide. You can make all the difference in the world by providing clean drinking water in places that need it."

On growing up on a ranch: "I learned poker from ranch hands, raised an abandoned bobcat my father brought home in his pocket and kept a wild horse we tamed, Chico, whom I wrote about in a book for children."

Reported by Linda Myers