Sandra Day O’Connor: Trailblazer in U.S. Judiciary History
POLOKWANE – Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court, has had a groundbreaking career. Born on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, O’Connor was raised by her parents, Harry A. Day and Ada Mae (Wilkey) Day, both ranchers.
According to TourismAfrica2006, O’Connor married John Jay O’Connor III in 1952, with whom she had three children: Scott, Brian, and Jay. She excelled academically, earning a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1950, graduating magna cum laude, and an LL. B from Stanford Law School in 1952, where she ranked third in her class and served on the Stanford Law Review. Remarkably, she completed her law degree in just two years.
O’Connor’s career was marked by her advocacy for judicial restraint, a principle she emphasized during her confirmation hearings, noting that judges should refrain from engaging in executive or legislative functions. In retirement, she actively campaigned for abolishing elections for judges, advocating for a merit-based system to ensure a more qualified and unbiased judiciary.
Her professional journey began as a county deputy attorney in San Mateo, California (1952-1953), followed by a role as a civilian lawyer for the Quartermaster Corps in Germany (1955-1957). In 1959, O’Connor opened a law firm in Maryvale, Arizona. Her public service career included serving as Arizona’s Assistant Attorney General (1965-1969), a member and majority leader of the Arizona Senate (1969-1972), a Superior Court judge in Maricopa County (1975-1979), and a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals (1979-1981).
On August 19, 1981, President Ronald Reagan formally nominated her to the Supreme Court, and she was confirmed on September 21, 1981. O’Connor was sworn in on September 25, 1981, as the first female Supreme Court justice in U.S. history.
During her tenure, she authored significant opinions, including a 1982 ruling against a women-only enrollment policy in a Mississippi State nursing school and a 1996 majority opinion restricting affirmative action policies. In 1999, she wrote the majority ruling that public school districts could be held liable for student sexual harassment. Her vote in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case was pivotal in the U.S. presidential election outcome.
O’Connor retired on January 31, 2006, and later founded iCivics, an educational website. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and revealed her diagnosis of early-stage dementia in 2018. Her legacy continues, evidenced by the 2022 bipartisan bill signed by President Joe Biden to erect statues of O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Capitol.