SCOTUS nixes O’Connor workout class

A decades-old workout class started by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the basketball court above the courtroom has been directed to move out of the building.

O’Connor started the class more than 35 years ago. During that time, it gained popularity among some women in the court’s surrounding neighborhood, though never among the other justices.

O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, retired in 2006 and hasn’t participated in the class “for some time now,” court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg told The Associated Press. But the class has gone on, despite the basketball court being reserved for Supreme Court employees.

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“Unfortunately, the time had come for the class to relocate,” Arberg told the AP in an email.

“Few employees attended the class and for some time now, the Justice has not been a participant and cannot oversee the group’s access to the gym, which is in a private area of the building open only to Court employees.”

O’Connor, now 86, had long tried to get one of her fellow justices to take her place in the class, which would have allowed the group to continue meeting in the basketball court. But, the AP reported, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor turned it down, saying it was held too early.

Justice Stephen Breyer participated a few times but did not want to be the only man in the class, the AP reported Friday.