Sandra Day O’Connor has died aged 93. She was the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court. O’Connor disappeared from the public eye in 2018 after she announced she had been diagnosed early dementia. It is the same illness that caused her to retire from the courts in 2006.
At the age of 93, Sandra Day O’Connor, the second female justice of the US Supreme Court, passed away. When O’Connor revealed in 2018 that she had been given an earlier dementia diagnosis, she retreated from public life. She retired from the court in 2006 to take care of her husband, John Jay O’Connor III, who passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2009. This illness was the same one that had forced her to do so.
Sandra Day O’Connor, a native of the American Southwest, “blazed an illustrious path as our nation’s earliest sexual Justice,” according to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. She “met that challenge with unwavering resolve, unquestionable skill, and engrossing candor.” At the Supreme Court, we lament the passing of a cherished colleague who stood up for the rule of law with fierce independence and spoke persuasively in favor of civics education. And as a true patriot and common servant, we honor her enduring legacy.
Ronald Reagan appointed O’Connor in 1981, and she was n’t unusual just for being a woman. She was the last justice who did n’t come straight from a federal appellate court and was born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Arizona. She could milk cows and ride horses, making her the rare Westerner to join the court. In actuality, O’Connor had a much more extensive constitutional background than the justices who followed her. She served in the Arizona state legislature before being appointed a state court judge in Arizona. In 1972, she was elected majority leader of the state senate. She had much practiced bipartisanship to get things done and understood politics in a way that most of her brethren did not.
Gender discrimination was very private to her. In 1952, she graduated from Stanford Law at the top of her class, just to find that no company would hire her as anything other than a secretary. She left on her personal and pursued a career in the government. The late Stanford classmate Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who would later be credibly accused of harassing minority voters at the polls in the 1960s, made a marriage proposal, and I like to think that she used American common sense to reject it.
Her Supreme Court jurisprudence was influenced by her real-world sensibilities, which frequently drove conservatives insane because it made her less predictable and more modest than they would have preferred—especially in the area of reproductive rights. She constantly voted in favor of upholding these rights, and she co-wrote the majority opinion in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which aided in keeping Roe up against Wade until Justice Samuel Alito, who took her place on the bench, finally overturned it. In the Dobbs decision from last year, which fully repealed the Roe constitutional protection for abortion established fifty years earlier, he wrote the majority opinion.
Alito had disagreed with Casey’s decision as a judge on the 3rd Circuit, where the case had its beginnings, and had dubious claims that O’Connor had previously ruled in accordance with his interpretation of the law. As I stated in this Alito profile:
The Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which was made in 1992 to challenge a Pennsylvania anti-abortion law that imposed strict waiting periods for women seeking abortions, was [P] erhaps]Alito’s [most contentious ] decision. With the exception of a clause requiring married women to inform their husbands before seeking an abortion, the 3rd Circuit upheld the law.
Alito disagreed, contending that the marriage notification clause should likewise be upheld. Concerns that such a measure might expose women to domestic violence were dryly dismissed by him. It is not up to us to determine whether the legislature’s strategy represents good public policy, he wrote. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s earlier Supreme Court decisions, he asserted, supported his interpretation of the law.
In fact, when the case was brought before the Supreme Court in 1992, O’Connor categorically rejected his claim. Together with two colleagues, she penned the majority opinion in a 5–4 decision to eliminate the notification provision. They ruled that “women” should never give up their constitutionally protected freedoms when they get married.
O’Connor retired at the age of 75, which is considered young by today’s standards given that Justice John Paul Stevens was 90 when he suddenly stepped down in 2010. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the next woman on the court, resisted retiring and passed away at the age of 89 while also holding onto her seat. O’Connor was also active when she walked out of the court. I was shocked to learn that she was a top judge hearing cases in the federal circuit courts two years after she retired.
At 78, no one would criticize O’Connor for spending more time on the links, but last week, when she not only heard an appeal in a provincial money-laundering case but also wrote the opinion, she made headlines in Boston. Oddly enough, her decision then permits federal prosecutors to continue their investigation into the sole Republican candidate to fill the Democrat-vacated state congressional seat. It appears that O’Connor is redefining” criminal independence” yet in retirement.
Lazy B.: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the United Southwest is one of the books she wrote, as well as several essays about her time serving on the country’s highest court. She frequently spoke out about a subject close to her heart: criminal independence. O’Connor was a ferocious opponent of choosing judges and, more generally, of money’s influence in those elections. In 2014, she also spoke with a Mother Jones reporter about the problem:
Because she claims that increasing amounts of money in the races skews the information voters see about judges that “often comes from misleading and even dirty campaign ads,” O’Connor opposes criminal elections in general. She would prefer judges to be appointed after being nominated by a commission and then run for retention elections.
According to O’Connor,” Campaign contributions” have an impact on how much people think that legal decisions are based on the law more than other considerations, like to whom a judge might feel obligated. ” In my opinion, when supporters are included in court cases, criminal campaign support—whether it involves strong contributions or independent spending—automatically creates an appearance of impropriety.”
The arch-conservatives nominated to the court by Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump have mostly dismantled O’Connor’s legacy in law, particularly in the areas of affirmative action and reproductive rights, like Justice Anthony Kennedy, the last real mild on the bench. Her passing this week serves as a sobering remembrance of an earlier, less divisive era—and the Supreme Court. At the age of 93, Sandra Day O’Connor, the second woman to hold a seat on the US Supreme Court, passed away. When O’Connor revealed in 2018 that she had been given an earlier dementia diagnosis, she retreated from public life. This is the same illness that forced her to leave the court in 2006.
Sandra Day O’Connor has died aged 93. She was the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court. O’Connor disappeared from the public eye in 2018 after she announced she had been diagnosed early dementia. It is the same illness that caused her to retire from the courts in 2006.
On July 893, 289, President Reagan introduced his Supreme Court pick, Sandra Day O’Connor, to members of the media in the White House Rose Garden. An image from a file stored in the Associated Press photo archive is being shown. Join the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to combat false information and keep up with recent news, including the passing of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first ever female Supreme Court Justice, at the age of 78. In 2014, O’Connor made an announcement declaring that she had been diagnosed with early stage dementia, and then removed herself from the spotlight. Sandra Day O’Connor, from the Southwest, was the first female Justice in America’s history. This was recognized by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in his statement. O’Connor was forced to quit the court in 2006 to care for her husband, John Jay O’Connor III, who had the same ailment as her, and ultimately passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2009. She confronted the challenge with unwavering ambition, unmistakable capability, and sincere openness. The Supreme Court is saddened by the passing of a dedicated colleague, a stalwart advocator and supporter of the law, and a passionate supporter of civic education. We commemorate her steadfast commitment to being a dedicated public servant and loyal citizen.
