Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an
associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a Justice (title), justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the J ...
from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
A
moderate conservative, she was considered a
swing vote. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an
Arizona state judge and earlier an elected legislator in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, 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
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
.
O'Connor usually sided with the Court's conservative bloc but on occasion sided with the Court's liberal members. She often wrote
concurring opinions that sought to limit the reach of the majority holding. Her
majority opinions in landmark cases include ''
Grutter v. Bollinger'' and ''
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld''. In 2000, she wrote in part the ''
per curiam'' majority opinion in ''
Bush v. Gore'' and in 1992 was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey'' that preserved legal access to
abortion in the United States
Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnanc ...
. On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her retirement, effective upon the confirmation of a successor. At the time of her death, O'Connor was the last living member of the
Burger Court.
Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, and joined the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.
During her term on the Court, O'Connor was regarded as among the most powerful women in the world. After retiring, she succeeded
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
as the
chancellor of the College of William & Mary. In 2009, she was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
.
Early life and education
Sandra Day was born on March 26, 1930, in
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, the daughter of Harry Alfred Day, a
ranch
A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...
er, and Ada Mae (Wilkey). She grew up on a 198,000-acre family
cattle ranch near
Duncan, Arizona and in El Paso, where she attended school. Her home was nine miles from the nearest paved road,.
It lacked running water or electricity until Sandra was seven years old.
As a
cowgirl she owned a .22-caliber rifle and would shoot
coyotes and
jackrabbits.
She began driving as soon as she could see over the dashboard and had to learn to change flat tires herself.
["Book Discussion on ''Sisters in Law'' Presenter: Linda Hirshman, author. Politics and Prose Bookstore. BookTV, Washington. September 3, 2015. 13 minutes in. Retrieved September 12, 201]
C-Span website
Sandra had two younger siblings, a sister and a brother, respectively eight and ten years her junior.
Her sister
Ann Day was a member of the
Arizona Legislature from 1990 to 2000. Her brother was H. Alan Day, a lifelong rancher, with whom she wrote ''Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest'' (2002), about their childhood experiences on the ranch.
For most of her early schooling, Day lived in El Paso with her maternal grandmother.
She went to the Radford School for Girls, a private school, because the family ranch was far from schools. Day was able to return to the ranch for holidays and the summer.
Day did spend her eighth-grade year living at the ranch and riding a bus 32 miles to school.
She graduated sixth in her class at
Austin High School in
El Paso in 1946.
Accepted into
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
at age 16, O'Connor earned a
B.A. in economics in 1950, graduating ''
magna cum laude''. Inspiared by Professor Harry Rathbun, she pursued a law degree at
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...
, graduating near the top of her class in 1952.
While attending, she served on the ''
Stanford Law Review'' whose then presiding editor-in-chief was future
Supreme Court chief justice William Rehnquist. Day achieved the
Order of the Coif, indicating she was in the top 10 percent of her class.
Early career and marriage
While in her final year at Stanford Law School, Day began dating
John Jay O'Connor III, who was one class year behind her.
On December 20, 1952, six months after her graduation, O'Connor and Day married at her family's ranch.
Upon graduation from law school in 1952, O'Connor had difficulty finding a paying job as an attorney in a law firm because of her
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
.
O'Connor found employment as a deputy county attorney in
San Mateo, California
San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...
, after she offered to work for no salary and without an office, sharing space with a secretary.
After a few months, she began drawing a small salary as she performed legal research and wrote memos.
She worked with
San Mateo County District Attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
Louis Dematteis and deputy district attorney Keith Sorensen.
When her husband was drafted, O'Connor decided to go with him to work in Germany as a civilian attorney for the Army's
Quartermaster Corps. They remained there for three years before returning to the States where they settled in
Maricopa County, Arizona, and she started a law firm.
They had three sons: Scott (born 1958), Brian (born 1960), and Jay (born 1962).
Following Brian's birth, O'Connor took a five-year hiatus from the practice of law.
She volunteered in various political organizations, such as the Maricopa County Young Republicans, and served on Arizona Senator
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
's
presidential campaign in 1964.
O'Connor served as assistant
Attorney General of Arizona from 1965 to 1969.
In 1969, the governor of Arizona appointed O'Connor to fill a vacancy in the
Arizona Senate.
She ran for and won the election for the seat the following year.
By 1973, she became the first woman to serve as Arizona's or any state's
majority leader.
She developed a reputation as a skilled negotiator and a moderate. After serving two full terms, O'Connor decided to leave the Senate.
In 1974, O'Connor was appointed to the
Maricopa County Superior Court, serving from 1975 to 1979 when she was elevated to the
Arizona Court of Appeals.
In late 1977 and early 1978, she presided over an
aggravated assault
In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...
case against
Clarence Dixon, a 22-year-old
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
student who had attacked a 15-year-old girl with a metal pipe. O'Connor would find Dixon
not guilty by reason of insanity and have him remanded to a state hospital. In the four-day period between O'Connor's ruling and Dixon's remanding to hospital, Dixon would rape and murder one of his seniors, 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin; he would not be arrested until 2001 when DNA evidence identified him, and he was executed for Bowdoin's murder in 2022.
She served on the Court of Appeals-Division One until 1981 when she was appointed to the Supreme Court by President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
.
Supreme Court career
Nomination and confirmation
On July 7, 1981, Reagan – who had pledged during his
1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Court
– announced he would nominate O'Connor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court to replace the retiring
Potter Stewart.
O'Connor received notification from President Reagan of her nomination on the day prior to the announcement and did not know that she was a finalist for the position.
[
Reagan wrote in his diary on July 6, 1981: "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for supreme court. Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. Right to Life people say she is pro abortion. She declares abortion is personally repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice." O'Connor told Reagan she did not remember whether she had supported repealing Arizona's law banning abortion. However, she had cast a preliminary vote in the Arizona State Senate in 1970 in favor of a bill to repeal the state's criminal-abortion statute.] In 1974, O'Connor had opined against a measure to prohibit abortions in some Arizona hospitals. Anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
and religious groups opposed O'Connor's nomination because they suspected, correctly, she would not be willing to overturn '' Roe v. Wade.'' U.S. Senate Republicans, including Don Nickles of Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
, Steve Symms of Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
, and Jesse Helms of North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
called the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
to express their discontent over the nomination; Nickles said he and "other profamily Republican senators would not support O'Connor". Helms, Nickles, and Symms nevertheless reluctantly voted for confirmation.
Reagan formally nominated O'Connor on August 19, 1981. Conservative activists such as the Reverend Jerry Falwell
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...
, Howard Phillips, and Peter Gemma also spoke out against the nomination. Gemma called the nomination "a direct contradiction of the Republican platform to everything that candidate Reagan said and even President Reagan has said in regard to social issues." Gemma, the executive director of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee, had sought to delay O'Connor's confirmation by challenging her record, including support for the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...
.
O'Connor's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
began on September 9, 1981. It was the first televised confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice. The confirmation hearing lasted three days and largely focused on the issue of abortion. When asked, O'Connor refused to telegraph her views on abortion, and she was careful not to leave the impression that she supported abortion rights. The Judiciary Committee approved O'Connor with seventeen votes in favor and one vote of present.
On September 21, O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99–0. Only Senator Max Baucus of Montana was absent from the vote. He sent O'Connor a copy of '' A River Runs Through It'' by way of apology. In her first year on the Court, she received over 60,000 letters from the public, more than any other justice in history.
Tenure
O'Connor said she felt a responsibility to demonstrate women could do the job of justice. She faced some practical concerns, including the lack of a women's restroom near the Courtroom.
Two years after O'Connor joined the Court, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' published an editorial that mentioned the "nine men" of the "SCOTUS", or Supreme Court of the United States. O'Connor responded with a letter to the editor reminding the ''Times'' that the Court was no longer composed of nine men and referred to herself as FWOTSC (First Woman on the Supreme Court).
O'Connor was a proponent of collegiality among justices on the court, often insisting that the justices eat lunch together.
In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second female Supreme Court justice. O'Connor said that she felt relief from the media clamor when she no longer was the only woman on the Court. In May 2010, O'Connor warned female Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan about the "unpleasant" process of confirmation hearings.
Supreme Court jurisprudence
Initially, O'Connor's voting record aligned closely with the conservative William Rehnquist (voting with him 87% of the time during her first three years at the Court). From that time until 1998, O'Connor's alignment with Rehnquist ranged from 93.4% to 63.2%, hitting above 90% in three of those years. In nine of her first 16 years on the Court, O'Connor voted with Rehnquist more than with any other justice.
Later on, as the Court's make-up became more conservative (e.g., Anthony Kennedy replacing Lewis Powell, and Clarence Thomas replacing Thurgood Marshall), O'Connor often became the swing vote on the Court. However, she usually disappointed the Court's more liberal bloc in contentious 5–4 decisions: from 1994 to 2004, she joined the traditional conservative bloc of Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Thomas 82 times; she joined the liberal bloc of John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer only 28 times.
O'Connor's relatively small shift away from conservatives on the Court seems to have been due at least in part to Thomas' views. When Thomas and O'Connor were voting on the same side, she would typically write a separate opinion of her own, refusing to join his. In the 1992 term, O'Connor did not join a single one of Thomas's dissents.
Some notable cases in which O'Connor joined the majority in a 5–4 decision were:
* '' McConnell v. FEC'', , upholding the constitutionality of most of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill regulating " soft money" contributions.
* '' Grutter v. Bollinger'', and '' Gratz v. Bollinger'', , O'Connor wrote the opinion of the Court in ''Grutter'' and joined the majority in ''Gratz''. In this pair of cases, the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
's undergraduate admissions program was held to have engaged in unconstitutional reverse discrimination, but the more limited type of affirmative action
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
in the University of Michigan Law School's admissions program was held to have been constitutional.
* '' Lockyer v. Andrade'', : O'Connor wrote the majority opinion, with the four conservative justices concurring, that a 50-year to life sentence without parole for petty shoplifting a few children's videotapes under California's three strikes law was not cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment because there was no "clearly established" law to that effect. Leandro Andrade, a Latino nine-year Army veteran and father of three, will be eligible for parole in 2046 at age 87.
* '' Zelman v. Simmons-Harris'', , O'Connor joined the majority holding that the use of school vouchers for religious schools did not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause
In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The ''Establishment Clause'' an ...
.
* '' United States v. Lopez'', : O'Connor joined a majority holding unconstitutional the Gun-Free School Zones Act as beyond Congress' Commerce Clause power.
* '' Bush v. Gore'', , O'Connor joined with four other justices on December 12, 2000, to rule on the ''Bush v. Gore'' case that ceased challenges to the results of the 2000 presidential election (ruling to stop the ongoing Florida election recount and to allow no further recounts). This case effectively ended Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
's hopes to become president. Some legal scholars have argued that she should have recused herself from this case, citing several reports that she became upset when the media initially announced that Gore had won Florida, with her husband explaining that they would have to wait another four years before retiring to Arizona. O'Connor expressed surprise that the decision became controversial. Some people in Washington stopped shaking her hand after the decision, and Arthur Miller confronted her about it at the Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
.
O'Connor played an important role in other notable cases, such as:
* '' Webster v. Reproductive Health Services'', : This decision upheld as constitutional state restrictions on second trimester abortions that are not necessary to protect maternal health, contrary to the original trimester requirements in '' Roe v. Wade''. Although O'Connor joined the majority, which also included Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy, and Byron White, in a concurring opinion she refused to explicitly overturn ''Roe''.
On February 22, 2005, with Rehnquist and Stevens (who were senior to her) absent, she became the senior justice presiding over oral arguments in the case of '' Kelo v. City of New London'' and becoming the first woman to do so before the Court.
First Amendment
O'Connor was unpredictable in many of her court decisions, especially those regarding First Amendment Establishment Clause
In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The ''Establishment Clause'' an ...
issues. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, "O'Connor was a conservative, but she saw the complexity of church-state issues and tried to choose a course that respected the country's religious diversity" (Hudson 2005). O'Connor voted in favor of religious institutions, such as in '' Rosenberger v. University of Virginia'' (1995), '' Mitchell v. Helms'' (2000), and '' Zelman v. Simmons-Harris'' (2002). Conversely, in '' Lee v. Weisman'' she was part of the majority in the case that saw religious prayer and pressure to stand in silence at a graduation ceremony as part of a religious act that coerced people to support or participate in religion, which the Establishment Clause strictly prohibits. This is consistent with a similar case, '' Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe'', involving prayer at a school football game. In this case, O'Connor joined the majority opinion that stated prayer at school football games violates the Establishment Clause. O'Connor was the first justice to articulate the "no endorsement" standard for the Establishment Clause. In '' Lynch v. Donnelly'', O'Connor signed onto a five-justice majority opinion holding that a nativity scene in a public Christmas display did not violate the First Amendment. She penned a concurrence in that case, opining that the crèche did not violate the Establishment Clause because it did not express an endorsement or disapproval of any religion. In ''Board of County Commissioners, Wabaunsee County, Kansas v Umbehr'' (1996) she upheld the application of first amendment free speech rights to independent contractors working for public bodies, being unpersuaded "that there is a 'difference of constitutional magnitude' ... between independent contractors and employees" in circumstances where a contractor has been critical of a governing body.
Fourth Amendment
According to law professor Jeffrey Rosen, "O'Connor was an eloquent opponent of intrusive group searches that threatened privacy without increasing security. In a 1983 opinion upholding searches by drug-sniffing dogs, she recognized that a search is most likely to be considered constitutionally reasonable if it is very effective at discovering contraband
Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...
without revealing ''innocent but embarrassing'' information." Washington College of Law professor Andrew Taslitz, referencing O'Connor's dissent in a 2001 case, said of her Fourth Amendment jurisprudence: "O'Connor recognizes that needless humiliation of an individual is an important factor in determining Fourth Amendment reasonableness." O'Connor once quoted the social contract theory of John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
as influencing her views on the reasonableness and constitutionality of government action.
Cases involving race
In '' McCleskey v. Kemp'' (1987), O'Connor joined a 5–4 majority that voted to uphold the death penalty for an African American man, Warren McCleskey, convicted of killing a white police officer, despite statistical evidence that Black defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than others both in Georgia and in the U.S. as a whole.
In the 1990 and 1995 '' Missouri v. Jenkins'' rulings, O'Connor voted with the majority that Federal district courts had no authority to require the state of Missouri to increase school funding to counteract racial inequality. In the 1991 case ''Freeman v. Pitts'', O'Connor joined a concurring opinion in a plurality, agreeing that a school district that had formerly been under judicial review for racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...
could be freed of this review, even though not all desegregation targets had been met. Law professor Herman Schwartz criticized these rulings, writing that in both cases "both the fact and effects of segregation were still present".
In 1996's '' Shaw v. Hunt'' and '' Shaw v. Reno'', O'Connor joined a Rehnquist opinion, following an earlier precedent from an opinion she authored in 1993, in which the Court struck down an electoral districting plan designed to facilitate the election of two Black representatives out of 12 from North Carolina, a state that had not had any Black representative since Reconstruction, despite being approximately 20% Blackthe Court held that the districts were unacceptably gerrymandered and O'Connor called the odd shape of the district in question, North Carolina's 12th, "bizarre".
Law professor Herman Schwartz called O'Connor "the Court's leader in its assault on racially oriented affirmative action
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
", although she joined with the Court in upholding the constitutionality of limited race-based admissions to universities.
In 2003, O'Connor authored a majority Supreme Court opinion ('' Grutter v. Bollinger'') saying racial affirmative action should not be constitutional permanently, but long enough to correct past discriminationwith an approximate limit of around 25 years.
Abortion
The Christian right element in the Reagan coalition strongly supported him in 1980, in the belief that he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn '' Roe v. Wade''. They were astonished and dismayed when his first appointment was O'Connor, who they feared would tolerate abortion. They worked hard to defeat her confirmation but failed. In her confirmation hearings and early days on the Court, O'Connor was carefully ambiguous on the issue of abortion, as some conservatives questioned her anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
credentials based on some of her votes in the Arizona legislature. O'Connor generally dissented from 1980s opinions which took an expansive view of ''Roe v. Wade''; she criticized that decision's "trimester approach" sharply in her dissent in '' City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health'' (1983). She criticized ''Roe'' in '' Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists'' (1986): "I dispute not only the wisdom but also the legitimacy of the Court's attempt to discredit and pre-empt state abortion regulation regardless of the interests it serves and the impact it has." In 1989, O'Connor stated during the deliberations over the ''Webster'' case that she would not overrule ''Roe''. While on the Court, O'Connor did not vote to strike down any restrictions on abortion until '' Hodgson v. Minnesota'' in 1990.
O'Connor allowed certain limits to be placed on access to abortion, but supported the right to abortion established by ''Roe''. In the landmark ruling '' Planned Parenthood v. Casey'' (1992), O'Connor used a test she had originally developed in ''City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health'' to limit the holding of ''Roe v. Wade'', opening up a legislative portal where a State could enact measures so long as they did not place an " undue burden" on a woman's right to an abortion. ''Casey'' revised downward the standard of scrutiny federal courts would apply to state abortion restrictions, a major departure from ''Roe''. However, it preserved ''Roe'''s core constitutional precept: that the Fourteenth Amendment implies and protects a woman's fundamental right to control the outcomes of her reproductive actions. Writing the plurality opinion for the Court, O'Connor, along with Kennedy and Souter, famously declared: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State."
Commentary and analysis
O'Connor's case-by-case approach routinely placed her in the center of the Court and drew both criticism and praise. ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' columnist Charles Krauthammer, for example, described her as lacking a judicial philosophy and instead displaying "political positioning embedded in a social agenda." Conservative commentator Ramesh Ponnuru wrote that, even though O'Connor "has voted reasonably well", her tendency to issue very case-specific rulings "undermines the predictability of the law and aggrandizes the judicial role."
Law clerks serving the Court in 2000 speculated that the decision she reached in ''Bush v. Gore'' was based on a desire to appear fair, rather than on any legal rationale, pointing to a memo she sent out the night before the decision was issued that used entirely different logic to reach the same result. They also characterized her approach to cases as deciding on "gut feelings".
Other activities while serving on the Court
In 2003, she wrote a book titled ''The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice'' (). In 2005, she wrote a children's book, ''Chico: A True Story from the Childhood of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice'', named for her favorite horse, which offered an autobiographical depiction of her childhood.
Retirement
On December 12, 2000, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported that O'Connor was reluctant to retire with a Democrat in the presidency: "At an Election Night party at the Washington, D.C., home of Mary Ann Stoessel, widow of former Ambassador Walter Stoessel, the justice's husband, John O'Connor, mentioned to others her desire to step down, according to three witnesses. But Mr. O'Connor said his wife would be reluctant to retire if a Democrat were in the White House and would choose her replacement. Justice O'Connor declined to comment."
By 2005, the composition of the Court had been unchanged for eleven years, the second-longest period in American history without any such change. Rehnquist was widely expected to be the first justice to retire during Bush's term, owing to his age and his battle with cancer, although rumors of O'Connor's possible retirement circulated as well.
On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her intention to retire. In her letter to Bush, she stated that her retirement from active service would take effect upon the confirmation of her successor. Her letter did not provide a reason for her departure; however, a Supreme Court spokeswoman confirmed O'Connor was leaving to spend time with her husband.
On July 19, Bush nominated D.C. Circuit Judge John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
to succeed O'Connor. O'Connor heard the news over the car radio on the way back from a fishing trip. She described Roberts soon after the nomination as "good in every way, except he's not a woman".
O'Connor had expected to leave the Court before the next term started on October 3, 2005. However, Rehnquist died on September 3, creating an immediate vacancy on the Court. Two days later, Bush withdrew Roberts as his nominee for her seat and instead appointed him to fill the vacant office of Chief Justice. O'Connor agreed to stay on the Court until her replacement was named and confirmed. She spoke at the late chief justice's funeral. On October 3, Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to replace O'Connor. After much criticism and controversy over her nomination, on October 27, Miers asked Bush to withdraw her nomination. Bush accepted, reopening the search for O'Connor's successor.
The continued delays in confirming a successor further extended O'Connor's time on the Court. She continued to hear oral argument on cases, including cases dealing with controversial issues such as physician-assisted suicide
Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life.
Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...
and abortion. O'Connor's last Court opinion, '' Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England'', written for a unanimous court, was a procedural decision that involved a challenge to a New Hampshire abortion law.
On October 31, Bush nominated Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito to replace O'Connor; Alito was confirmed by a 58–42 vote and was sworn in on January 31, 2006. After retiring, she continued to hear cases and rendered over a dozen opinions in federal appellate courts across the country, filling in as a substitute judge when vacations or vacancies left their three-member panels understaffed. On Alito's nomination, O'Connor said, "I've often said, it's wonderful to be the first to do something but I didn't want to be the last. If I didn't do a good job, it might've been the last and indeed when I retired, I was not replaced, then, by a woman which gives one pause to think 'Oh, what did I do wrong that led to this.
Post-Supreme Court career
In her retirement, O'Connor continued to speak and organize conferences on the issue of judicial independence
Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...
. During a March 2006 speech at Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
, O'Connor said some political attacks on the independence of the courts pose a direct threat to the constitutional freedoms of Americans. She said, "Any reform of the system is debatable as long as it is not motivated by retaliation for decisions that political leaders disagree with." She also noting that she was "against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning". "Courts interpret the law as it was written, not as the congressmen might have wished it was written", and "it takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."[
On November 19, 2008, O'Connor published an introductory essay on a themed judicial accountability issue in the ''Denver University Law Review''. She called for a better public understanding of judicial accountability. On November 7, 2007, at a conference on her landmark opinion in '' Strickland v. Washington'' (1984) sponsored by the Constitution Project, O'Connor highlighted the lack of proper legal representation for many of the poorest defendants.] O'Connor also urged the creation of a system for "merit selection for judges", a cause for which she had frequently advocated.
On August 7, 2008, O'Connor and Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia, wrote an editorial in the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' stating concerns about the threatened imprisonment of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In October 2008, O'Connor spoke on racial equality in education at a conference hosted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
. Later in the conference, she was awarded the Charles Hamilton Houston Justice Award alongside Desmond Tutu and Dolores Huerta.
Following the Court's ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court regarding Campaign fin ...
'' decision on corporate political spending, O'Connor offered measured criticism of the decision, telling Georgetown law students and lawyers, "that the Court has created an unwelcome new path for wealthy interests to exert influence on judicial elections."
O'Connor argued in favor of President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
naming the replacement for Antonin Scalia in February 2016, mere days after Scalia's death, opposing Republican arguments that the next president should get to fill the vacancy. She said, "I think we need somebody there to do the job now and let's get on with it. ... You just have to pick the best person you can under the circumstances, as the appointing authority must do. It's an important position and one that we care about as a nation and as a people. And I wish the president well as he makes choices and goes down that line. It's hard."
Judge William H. Pryor Jr., a conservative jurist, has criticized O'Connor's speeches and op-eds for hyperbole and factual inaccuracy, based in part on O'Connor's opinions as to whether judges face a rougher time in the public eye today than in the past.
O'Connor reflected on her time on the Supreme Court by saying that she regretted the Court hearing the ''Bush v. Gore'' case in 2000 because it "stirred up the public" and "gave the Court a less-than-perfect reputation". She told the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' that "maybe the Court should have said, 'We're not going to take it, goodbye,' ... It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadn't done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day".
Activities and memberships
As a retired Supreme Court justice, O'Connor continued to receive a full salary, maintained a staffed office with at least one law clerk, and heard cases on a part-time basis in federal district courts and courts of appeals as a visiting judge. By 2008, O'Connor had sat for cases with the 2nd, 8th
Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight.
Eighth may refer to:
* One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole
* Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet)
* Octave, an interval b ...
, and 9th Circuits. O'Connor heard an Arizona voting rights case which the Supreme Court later reviewed. In '' Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona'', a 7–2 majority affirmed O'Connor and the rest of 9th Circuit panel, and struck down a provision of Arizona's voting registration law. O'Connor hired a law clerk for the October 2015 term, but did not hire a law clerk for the subsequent term.
O'Connor was elected as an honorary fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2005. In October that year, O'Connor accepted the largely ceremonial role of becoming the 23rd Chancellor of the College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...
. O'Connor continued in the role until 2012. O'Connor was a member of the 2006 Iraq Study Group, appointed by the U.S. Congress. From 2006, she was a trustee on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
. O'Connor chaired the Jamestown 2007 celebration, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
, in 1607. The Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary, named for O'Connor, held annual conferences from 2006 through 2008 on the independence of the judiciary. O'Connor was a member of both the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
.
Teaching
In 2006, O'Connor taught a course on the Supreme Court at the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
's James E. Rogers College of Law as a distinguished jurist in residence. On April 5, 2006, Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
named its law school the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in her honor.
Publishing
O'Connor wrote the 2013 book ''Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court''.
Public speaking engagements
On May 15, 2006, O'Connor gave the commencement address at the William & Mary School of Law, where she said that judicial independence is "under serious attack at both the state and national level". In 2008, O'Connor was named an inaugural Harry Rathbun Visiting Fellow by the Office for Religious Life at Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
. On April 22, 2008, she gave "Harry's Last Lecture on a Meaningful Life" in honor of the former Stanford Law professor who shaped her undergraduate and law careers. On September 17, 2014, O'Connor appeared on the television show ''Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' and provided a couple of video answers to the category 'Supreme Court' which appeared on the show. On the same day in Concord, New Hampshire, she gave a talk alongside her former colleague Justice David Souter about the importance of meaningful civics education in the United States.
Non-profits and philanthropic activity
In February 2009, O'Connor launched Our Courts, a website she created to offer interactive civics lessons to students and teachers because she was concerned about the lack of knowledge among most young Americans about how their government works. She also served as a co-chair with Lee H. Hamilton for the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. On March 3, 2009, O'Connor appeared on the satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
television program '' The Daily Show'' with Jon Stewart to promote the website. In August 2009, the website added two online interactive games. The initiative expanded, becoming iCivics in May 2010 offering free lesson plans, games, and interactive videogames for middle and high school educators. By 2015, the iCivics games had 72,000 teachers as registered users and its games had been played 30 million times.
O'Connor served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution. By November 2015, O'Connor had transitioned to being a trustee emeritus for the center. In April 2013, the board of directors of Justice at Stake, a national judicial reform advocacy organization, announced that O'Connor would be joining the organization as honorary chair.
In 2009, O'Connor founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization now known as the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute. Its programs are dedicated to promoting civil discourse, civic engagement, and civics education. In 2019, her former adobe residence in Arizona, curated by the O'Connor Institute, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. In 2022, the Institute launched Civics for Life, its multigenerational digital platform.
O'Connor was a member and president of the Junior League of Phoenix.
O'Connor was a founding co-chair of the National Advisory Board at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD). The institute was created at the University of Arizona after the 2011 shooting of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords that killed six people and wounded 13 others.
Personal life, illness and death
Upon her appointment to the Supreme Court, O'Connor and her husband moved to the Kalorama area of Washington, D.C. The O'Connors became active in the Washington, D.C. social scene. O'Connor played tennis and golf in her spare time. She was a baptized member of the Episcopal Church.
O'Connor was successfully treated for breast cancer in 1988, and she also had her appendix removed that year. That same year, John O'Connor left the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller & Chevalier for a practice that required him to split his time between Washington, D.C. and Phoenix.
Her husband suffered from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
for nearly 20 years, until his death in 2009, and she became involved in raising awareness of the disease. After retiring from the Court, O'Connor moved back to Phoenix, Arizona.
Around 2013, O'Connor's friends and colleagues noticed that she was becoming more forgetful and less talkative. By 2017, back problems led to her needing to use a wheelchair, and to her moving to an assisted living facility. In October 2018, O'Connor announced her effective retirement from public life after disclosing that she had been diagnosed with the early stages of dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
.
On May 7, 2016, her younger sister, Ann Day, was killed in a car accident in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, as a result of a collision with a drunk driver.
On December 1, 2023, O'Connor died in Phoenix, at the age of 93, due to complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness. After her death, Chief Justice John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
called her "an eloquent advocate for civil education" and a "fiercely independent defender of the rule of law" in a public statement. President Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
said she was an "American icon", dedicated to public service and the "bedrock American principle of an independent judiciary". iCivics board chairman Larry Kramer said that O'Connor was "kind and generous" and relayed that iCivics was her "brainchild".
O'Connor lay in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court on December 18, 2023. She was memorialized the following day in a funeral service held at the Washington National Cathedral.
Legacy and awards
O'Connor was particularly remembered for being the first woman on the Court, and for functioning as the swing vote in the 5–4 decision in '' Bush v. Gore'', which handed the presidency to George W. Bush.
Overall, she began her tenure on the court as a Reaganite but would later attempt to steer the court toward decisions that better aligned with public opinion. Some argue that O'Connor's jurisprudential legacy was largely undone by the appointment of Samuel Alito as her successor.
In March 2019, historian and journalist Evan Thomas published a memoir detailing O'Connor's life, pulling from interviews and her archives, and becoming a ''New York Times'' Bestseller and finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize.
See also
* List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
* List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 8)
* List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office
* List of United States federal judges by longevity of service
* United States Supreme Court cases during the Burger Court
* United States Supreme Court cases during the Rehnquist Court
* United States Supreme Court cases during the Roberts Court
* List of female state supreme court justices
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
Further reading
*
* Biskupic, Joan. ''Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice'' (2005), biography
* Flowers, Prudence. A Prolife Disaster': The Reagan Administration and the Nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor". ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 53.2 (2018): 391–414. .
* Montini, E. J. (2005)
"Rehnquist is No. 1, O'Connor is No. 3, Baloney is No. 2"
''The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain.
History
Early years
The newspap ...
''. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
* , a primary source
* Thomas, Evan. ''First: Sandra Day O'Connor'' (2019) Random House, authorized biography
External links
*
Issue positions and quotes
at OnTheIssues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Sandra Day
*
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