Justice O’Connor says calls at 1 a.m. were unauthorized

WASHINGTON -- Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is apologizing for the 50,000 recorded telephone calls made to Nevada voters in which she supports a ballot measure to change the way state judges are selected.

O'Connor said Wednesday that she did not authorize use of her recorded statement in the calls, which awakened many Nevadans after midnight Monday. The calls were supposed to be at midday.

But whatever the time, O'Connor said, her voice should not have been used.

"I did not authorize the use of my recorded statement as part of automated telephone calls to Nevada residents, and I regret that the statement was used in this way," she said in a statement issued through the Supreme Court.

At the same time, she defended her involvement in the campaign to amend the state constitution to reduce the role of elections in the choice of judges. O'Connor has appeared in a TV commercial on behalf of the Question 1 measure that Nevadans will vote on Tuesday.

Some critics have said O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, should refrain from political activity because she continues to hear cases as a federal judge.