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Sandra Day O’Connor changed the Supreme Court mold

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11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: she became the first-ever woman appointed to the supreme court, circa 1981...

Born in El Paso, Texas and raised on an Arizona ranch, Sandra Day O’Connor would go on to become the first-ever woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

Admitted to Stanford University at the mere age of 16, O’Connor would later earn her law degree from the school in 1952.  Married to John Jay O’Connor shortly thereafter, the new, impeccable J.D. degree did little to present O’Connor with career opportunity; for her first legal gig, she worked for the San Mateo county attorney – for free.

After a trio of years abroad with her (drafted) husband in Germany, the couple returned to the States, where O’Connor opened a private law practice with another attorney.  In the years’ to follow, she’d become the state’s Attorney General in ’65, a role she’d serve for four years before being appointed by the governor to fill a vacated seat in the Arizona Senate.

After multiple terms, O’Connor would join the judiciary, eventually elevated to the Arizona State Court of Appeals.

Come the 1980’s, with President Ronald Reagan having pledged to place the first woman on the Supreme Court, O’Connor was soon nominated to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart and was later unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate via a 99-0 vote; she was sworn in on September 25, 1981, making new American history in the process.

O’Connor would hold her Supreme Court seat as an associate justice until she retired in 2006.

Subsequent to her appointment, O’Connor set the stage for four future women on the Supreme Court, beginning with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Clinton in 1993; the Court currently has three female Justices, including Sonia Sotomayor (appointed by President Obama in 2009) and Elena Kagan (appointed by President Obama in 2010).

O’Connor, who will turn 92-year-old in March of 2022, has remained nimble since leaving the bench, including being active in public speaking, publishing and philanthropy.  In 2019, her Arizona adobe-style home was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

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