In August 1993, the number of females serving as justices on the Supreme Court of the United States increased from one to two. The presence of a second female justice on the Court appeared to pose a particular challenge to many advocates at oral argument, because thereafter it became a common occurrence for attorneys while orally arguing cases to refer to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “Justice O’Connor” or to refer to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as “Justice Ginsburg.”
Of course, O’Connor and Ginsburg during their time together on the Court have never looked alike, they sound nothing alike, and they were never seated next to one another on the bench at oral argument, given the Court’s practice of seating associate justices according to seniority. Yet these frequent, and often embarrassing, missteps at oral argument were committed not only by novices but also by attorneys who had previously argued numerous cases before the Court.
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