SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR

Born Sandra Day on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, TX

In Office as Associate Justice September 25, 1981 – January 31, 2006

Now retired, Sandra Day O’Connor began her time on the bench of the Supreme Court as the first woman Justice to be both nominated and confirmed. Her senate confirmation was unanimous, and during her tenure from 1981 to 2006, she secured a reputation as a “centrist,” often siding with the Conservative bloc but still collaborating with and occasionally aligning with liberal members.

O’Connor’s early life presented both learning opportunities and obstacles to education, as there were limited schooling options for young women near the “Lazy B,” their family ranch in Duncan, AZ. After living her first seven years without running water or electricity at the Lazy B, O’Connor (nee Day) lived with her maternal grandmother in El Paso, Texas to attend the Radford School for Girls. For her eighth-grade year, O’Connor lived on the ranch and rode the bus 32 miles to school in El Paso, graduating high school two years early and sixth in her class.

Sandra Day O’Connor, in 2011, the 1st Female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Library of Congress)

O’Connor’s law career started at Stanford Law School where she met fellow student John O’Connor, whom she married six months after her graduation in 1952. Her first job out of school was as a county deputy attorney in San Mateo, California, initially by offering to work for no salary and sharing space with a secretary. Though mothering three boys brought a pause to her formal employment, O’Connor stayed active in various political causes before serving as assistant to the Attorney General of Arizona, followed by an appointment from the governor of Arizona for a vacancy in the Senate. This made her the first woman to serve as any state’s Majority Leader.

O’Connor was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan on August 19, 1981, and her confirmation hearing in September before the Senate Judiciary Committee was the first ever televised hearing of a Supreme Court Justice. Ten days later, O’Connor was confirmed by the Senate with a unanimous vote of 99-0.

— Sandra Day O’Connor, Opening Statement from Senate Nomination Hearings, September 9, 1981

Even after two years of service, The New York Times wrote an article referencing the “nine men” of the Supreme Court, prompting O’Connor to provide a written response, referring to herself as the FWOTSC - First Woman On The Supreme Court. O’Connor’s decisions often took a literal “case by case” approach that created both approval and criticism. In a politically divided court, she was known to often cast the swing vote, sometimes siding with the conservatives, and sometimes with the liberals. In an interview with NPR in 2013 called “‘Out Of Order’ At The Court: O’Connor On Being The First Female Justice,” O’Connor stated her feelings on the term: “I don’t like that term [swing vote]. I never did, and it’s not one that I like any better today. I don’t think any Justice — and I hope I was not one — would swing back and forth and just try to make decisions not based on legal principles but on where you thought the direction should go, and so I never liked that term.”

O’Connor’s decision to retire in July 2005 rested much on her desire to spend more time with her husband who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. After several delays, she retired on January 31, 2006, when she was succeeded on the Court by Justice Samuel Alito. In 2009, O’Connor founded iCivics, a web-based education project aimed at engaging middle school and high school students in civics. Later that year on August 12th, she received the nation’s highest honor awarded to a civilian from President Barack Obama, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her lifetime of accomplishment and service to our country.