by Scott Wheeler

 The debate whether to Sonia Sotomayor to the United State’s Supreme Court is beginning to heat up as her professional and personal life are scrutinized in search of any blemishes. Although no members of the Supreme Court currently hail from the Northeast Kingdom, at least three past justices had links to the region.

The community of Jay, Vermont, is named in honor of a New York native, John Jay. The New Yorker is considered one of this country’s founding fathers. In addition to serving in the Continental Congress, among other positions, he was also appointed by President George Washington as first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, a position he held between 1789 and 1795. He later served as the governor of the state of New York. He passed away on May 15, 1829.

The now late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was a regular summer resident of Greensboro, Vermont. Although one of the most powerful men in the country, when he was in the Kingdom he was just “Bill” to the people who knew and loved him. That was the way he wanted it. Although he was an active member of the community, people also respected his privacy. The chief justice died on September 3, 2005.

Then there is former justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Although a Texan by birth, O’Connor, through her grandfather Henry Clay Day, had Vermont blood running through her veins. H.C. Day grew up in Coventry, Vermont. Although she never lived in the Northeast Kingdom, there is at least one account of her dropping by the Coventry Town Clerk’s Office quite a number of years ago in her pursuit to research her ancestry and connection to this region.

In one of her books, Lazy B, she mentions her connections to Coventry:

“H.C. Day, our grandfather, was a New Englander — shrewd, conservative, careful with his money, intelligent, not afraid to tackle new ventures. He was named for Henry Clay, whose Whig politics were popular in New England before the Civil War. H.C. Day worked on the family farm in Coventry, Vermont, until 1865, when he turned twenty-one. Then, a free man, he opened a general merchandize store on the Canadian border, some ten miles north of Coventry. He made a nest egg and moved west to Wichita, Kansas, a central hub in the westward expansion. There he opened a building-supply business, furnishing materials for the rapid expansion of that city after Congress abruptly appropriated land claimed by several Indian tribes. He acquired a cattle ranch outside of Wichita, as well as various other properties....”

Some of Justice O’Connor’s ancestors are buried in Day Cemetery on the Coventry end of Pine Hill Road.