Sandra Day O'Connor, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 - December 1, 2023) was a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from her appointment in 1981 by Ronald Reagan to 2006. She is the first woman to serve on the Court.

Prior to O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. On July 1, 2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of a successor. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, and joined the Court on January 31, 2006.

Considered a federalist and a moderate Republican, O'Connor tended to approach each case narrowly without arguing for sweeping precedents. She most frequently sided with the Court's conservative bloc, although in the latter years of her tenure, she was regarded as having the swing opinion in many cases. She often wrote concurring opinions that limited the reach of the majority holding. Her majority opinions in landmark cases include Grutter v. Bollinger and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. She also wrote in part the per curiam majority opinion in Bush v. Gore and was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

O'Connor was Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also served on the Board of Trustees for Colonial Williamsburg. Several publications have named O'Connor among the most powerful women in the world. On August 12, 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President Barack Obama.

On December 1, 2023, O'Connor died aged 93, at her Phoenix home, due to complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness. After her death, Chief Justice John Roberts called her "an eloquent advocate for civil education" and a "fiercely independent defender of the rule of law" in a public statement.

Family

• Parents: Harry Alfred Day, a rancher, and Ada Mae (Wilkey).
• Siblings: Hollis Alan Day Sr.; Eleanor Ann Day
• Spouse: John Jay O'Connor III ((January 10, 1930 – November 11, 2009) - married December 20, 1952 at her family’s ranch
• Children: three sons

Source: Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O%27Connor on 1 December 2023.

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References

• Greenhouse, Linda. “Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court, Is Dead at 93.” The New York Times, December 1, 2023. < NYTimes.com >
• Bushard, Brian. “Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on Supreme Court, Dies at 93.” Forbes, December 1, 2023. < Forbes.com > She is survived by her three adult sons, Scott O'Connor, Brian O'Connor and Jay O'Connor, as well as six grandchildren and her brother, Alan Day.
• Totenberg, Nina. “The Personal Sandra Day o’connor: A Backstage Force and Front Stage Star.” NPR, December 1, 2023. < NPR.org >
• “Biography.” Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, August 9, 2019. < link >
• “Sandra Day O’Connor Family Tree and Famous Kin.” Sandra Day O’Connor Family Tree (25874). Accessed December 1, 2023. < FamousKin.com >
• O'Connor, Sandra Day & Day, H. Alan (2002). Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest. Random House. ISBN 0-375-50724-8. < Archive.Org >