I, said O’ Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and formerly Communist countries, where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O’Connor said we must be ever vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.

Judicial activism? No, it's called you don't like it and look for a label to use to blame people.

When O'Connor came on the court she was a solid conservative. Not Rhenquist, but firmly on the right. That didn't really change, it was that the entire court shifted to place her in the middle. O'Connor represented the same sort of conservatism that fit with people like Eisenhower, Ford, or maybe Bob Dole. You may not agree with their positions, but they are intelligent, well reasoned, often common sense reactions. Her comments now, coming from someone in her position are something that is more than worth paying attention to, it's an instruction for keeping the country on a solid path.