Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas) is an American lawyer. She was the first female judge at the US Supreme Court from 1981 to 2006.
Sandra Day O'Connor and Ronald Reagan, July 15, 1981
Born in El Paso, Texas to rancher Harry A. Day and wife Ada Mae, O'Connor grew up on the family's ranch in Arizona. There she got to know not only horse riding but also normal work in agriculture. In 1935, her parents sent her to a private school for girls in El Paso. There she lived with her grandmother. Longing for the ranch, however, drove her back to her parents for a short time.
She attended Stanford University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1950. She then attended the prestigious Stanford Law School, where she did her bachelor's degree in law. She showed great ability and completed the course in two instead of the usual three years and was also one of the top three students of the final year. It was at this school that she met her future husband Jay O’Connor, whom she married shortly after graduating the same year. She had previously rejected a marriage proposal from the future Chief Justice William Rehnquist, with whom she had a lifelong friendship.
Despite these excellent results, she could not find a job, possibly because she was a woman. She was only offered a job as a secretary. So she got into the public sector and worked for the San Mateo County Attorney's Office. She gave up this job in 1954 and moved to Frankfurt am Main, where she worked for the United States Army. In 1957 she left Frankfurt again and went to Maricopa County. In the same year she had her first son. In the following years she had two more sons and therefore no longer worked full-time. However, this did not prevent her from pursuing various legal activities. At the same time she worked for the Republican Party. In 1965 she became Assistant Attorney General of Arizona. Four years later she became a member of the Arizona Senate.
Supreme Court
On July 7, 1981, Ronald Reagan proposed her to the Supreme Court as the successor to Potter Stewart, who resigned in June, and officially nominated her on August 19. On September 21, the Senate confirmed her with 99-0 votes and on September 25, 1981 O’Connor was sworn in. She was the first woman in this institution. The next appointment of a woman was in 1993 with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
After the inconsistencies in the counting of the 2000 presidential election in Florida, she voted to end the recount, thereby enabling George W. Bush to take office on January 20, 2001.
On July 1, 2005, she announced that she wanted to resign from her office as judge at the Supreme Court (see right). As successor, George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers on October 3, 2005, but she resigned from her nomination a few weeks later.
On September 29, 2005, John Roberts, originally nominated to succeed O'Connor, was sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States and successor to the late William H. Rehnquist. O’Connor was replaced by Samuel Alito on January 31, 2006.
Other Activities And Awards
The American Philosophical Society, of which she has been a member since 1992, awarded her the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 2003.
After her retirement from the Supreme Court, Day O'Connor continued to serve as a judge on the federal appeals court. In March 2006 she caused a stir when she criticized the Republicans for their aggressive attacks on the judiciary and warned that the country was in danger of sliding towards a dictatorship. On August 12, 2009, President Barack Obama presented her with the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In October 2018, she announced that she had dementia.
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