The solution to partisan gridlock? Beer and chalupas

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has an unusual solution to Washington’s partisan gridlock: beer and chalupas.

Speaking to a crowd of about 850 people at a prominent synagogue in the capital, O’Connor recalled her days in the Arizona state Senate and how she used to break the ice between Democrats and Republicans.

"I was a legislative leader, I would cook some Mexican food sometimes, chalupas or something ... and I'd buy some cold beer," she said. "And then I'd invite some key people on both sides of the aisle from the legislature."

According to the WashingtonExaminer, the former justice explained that those days of food and brew led to her nonprofit “O’Connor House Project,” based out of the adobe brick home she shared with her late husband, John.

“We use it as a place where civil talk leads to civic action," O'Connor said. "In the present we're using O'Connor House to get legislators together over beers and chalupas [to] see if they can't get acquainted with each other and solve some of Arizona's problems."

Roll Call reports that the former family home is a gathering site to convene policy discussions. The project aims to help Arizona leaders cooperate to address some of the state’s most challenging political problems.

 “Civil talk leads to civic action,” O’Connor told the crowd, adding that Congress and state legislatures could learn from her Southwestern tradition.