Sandra Day O’Connor, former Supreme Court Justice, is tired of all the negative Nancys throwing shade at Chief Justice John Roberts, whose decision to uphold the health care reform act got a lot of people talking. After he was called a “traitor” to the court, O’Connor stepped up in his defense, citing a lack of misinformation as the reason for the backlash.
“It’s unfortunate because I think comments like that demonstrate only too well a lack of understanding some of our citizens have about the role of the judicial branch,” she said.
O’Connor had been making strides in helping the nation’s school-age kids get up-to-date with learning about our government, as the U.S. has fallen sadly behind in that area over the past several years. She’s even founded a website called iCivics, which uses interactive learning to help fill in the gaps at school.
“Young people need to know how our government works, and how they’re part of it,” O’Connor said. “It isn’t self-evident, and in schools today, I don’t think it’s widely taught.”
O’Connor says one of the goals of the system is to make learning about the branches of our government exciting and interesting, rather than reciting boring old facts. The site is currently being used in all 50 states and has shown great success for many classrooms.