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JACKSON, Wyo. -- Sandra Day O'Connor compares the U.S. Supreme Court bench to a stage and some of its justices to larger-than-life actors.
If that's the case, O'Connor is a superstar.
The first woman on the Supreme Court entertained about 230 listeners Thursday with stories about her predecessors and their oversized personalities, some of them good judges and some not-so-good.
They all were shaped by their time, ranging from the Civil War to Vietnam, and in turn helped shape their era, she said.
"Each made his mark, usually by dissent," O'Connor told a packed auditorium at the National Wildlife Art Museum in Jackson.
The justice's talk, which had been planned long before she announced she would retire from the court, was the third in the museum's Distinguished Lecture Series. Previous speakers were Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, and art historian Peter Hassrick.
O'Connor said William O. Douglas, one of the most liberal members of the court during his time on the bench from 1939-1975, gained his love of the environment while growing up in Washington state and worked to preserve the wilderness.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served from 1902-1932, was a realist who said some disputes needed to be settled by legislatures, she said, adding that many of his views outlined in dissent came to prevail years after he left the court.
"Holmes was ultimately recognized to be the greatest legal mind of his age," O'Connor said.
One of the worst justices was James McReynolds, an unabashed racist and anti-Semite who refused to sit for a formal portrait with his Jewish colleagues, she said. He served from 1914 to 1941.
"Their stories tell us what sort of character we should look for in a Supreme Court justice," O'Connor told the crowd, which gave her an enthusiastic welcome and a standing ovation.
In response to questions from the audience, who were members of the museum's Rungius Society, O'Connor said her work with international groups that promote establishing the rule of law in other countries has been satisfying.
She cited the presidential elections last year in Ukraine as a success story.
Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned, allegedly by supporters of his opponent, who was declared the winner in the election. Massive protests and accusations of irregularities ignited and the question of whether the election was valid landed in front of Ukraine's supreme court.
Every member of the court had participated in seminars provided by the organizations promoting a fair justice system, O'Connor said. And the judges televised the hearing on the matter and ultimately called for a new election, which ended with Yushchenko's victory.
"And all of this happened without bloodshed," O'Connor said.
Judge Robert Henry of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who helped set up O'Connor's talk, called the justice "an unbelievable person" who has risen to the top in every position she has held.
"She's just the type of person I think the framers had in mind to be a Supreme Court justice," he said.
Henry says O'Connor's Arizona background made her self-reliant and hard-working and gave her a love of community and family, qualities that were big factors in her success.
"There's no question those Western values had something to do with that," he said.