Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor
Official portrait, c. 2002
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office
September 25, 1981 – January 31, 2006[1][2]
Nominated byRonald Reagan
Preceded byPotter Stewart
Succeeded bySamuel Alito
Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals for Division One
In office
December 14, 1979 – September 25, 1981
Nominated byBruce Babbitt
Preceded byMary Schroeder
Succeeded bySarah D. Grant[3]
Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court for Division 31
In office
January 9, 1975 – December 14, 1979
Preceded byDavid Perry
Succeeded byCecil Patterson[4]
Member of the Arizona Senate
In office
January 8, 1973 – January 13, 1975
Preceded byHoward S. Baldwin
Succeeded byJohn Pritzlaff
Constituency24th district
In office
January 11, 1971 – January 8, 1973
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byBess Stinson
Constituency20th district
In office
October 30, 1969 – January 11, 1971
Preceded byIsabel Burgess
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Constituency8-E district
Personal details
Born
Sandra Day

(1930-03-26)March 26, 1930
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
DiedDecember 1, 2023(2023-12-01) (aged 93)
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
(m. 1952; died 2009)
Children3
RelativesAnn Day (sister)
EducationStanford University (BA, LLB)
AwardsPresidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Signature

Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.[5][6] A moderate conservative, she was considered a swing vote. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an Arizona state judge and earlier an elected legislator in Arizona, serving as the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate.[7] Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate.

O'Connor usually sided with the Court's conservative bloc but on occasion sided with the Court's liberal members. She often wrote concurring opinions that sought to limit the reach of the majority holding. Her majority opinions in landmark cases include Grutter v. Bollinger and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. In 2000, she wrote in part the per curiam majority opinion in Bush v. Gore and in 1992 was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that preserved legal access to abortion in the United States. On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her retirement, effective upon the confirmation of a successor.[8] At the time of her death, O'Connor was the last living member of the Burger Court. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, and joined the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.

During her term on the Court, O'Connor was regarded as among the most powerful women in the world.[9][10] After retiring, she succeeded Henry Kissinger as the chancellor of the College of William & Mary. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.[11]

  1. ^ "Current Members". supremecourt.gov. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  2. ^ "The date a Member of the Court took his/her Judicial oath (the Judiciary Act provided 'That the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the district judges, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath ...') is here used as the date of the beginning of his/her service, for until that oath is taken he/she is not vested with the prerogatives of the office." Source: About the Court > Justices > Justices 1789 to Present;Archived April 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Retired Judges". Archived from the original on February 12, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  4. ^ "Judges of the Superior Court Of Arizona in Maricopa County" (PDF). ww.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov. November 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  5. ^ Weisman, Steven R. (July 7, 1981). "Reagan Nominating Woman, an Arizona Appeals Judge, to Serve on Supreme Court". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2000. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
  6. ^ "Sandra Day O'Connor | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. May 11, 2023. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  7. ^ "O'Connor, Sandra Day". Federal Judicial Center. Archived from the original on March 6, 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2006.
  8. ^ Stevenson, R. W. (July 1, 2005). "O'Connor, First Woman Supreme Court Justice, Resigns After 24 Years". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2005.
  9. ^ McCaslin, John (November 7, 2001). "Power Women". McCaslin's Beltway Beat. Washington, D.C.: Townhall.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2009. ... Ladies' Home Journal, ... ranks the 30 Most Powerful Women based on cultural clout, financial impact, achievement, visibility, influence, intellect, political know-how and staying power. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ranks 5th on the list behind Miss Winfrey, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Martha Stewart and Barbara Walters
  10. ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women". Forbes. August 20, 2004. Archived from the original on March 15, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
  11. ^ "Presidential Medal of Freedom". CBS News. August 12, 2009. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2021.

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