Sandra Day O'Connor | Biography

Sandra Day O'Connor was described by some as the most influential woman in America. She was the first woman named to the United States Supreme Court. Born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, to cattle ranchers, O'Connor was raised on her family's ranch. At age six she moved in with her grandparents in El Paso where her parents believed she would receive a better education than on the ranch. She attended Radford School for Girls and then went on to graduate from Austin High School at age sixteen. O'Connor continued to excel in academics at Stanford University where she majored in economics and graduated magna cum laude in 1950. She continued her education in the Stanford law school.

While in law school, Sandra Day met her future husband, John J. O'Connor III, a fellow law student who was one year behind her. Day graduated third in her law school class and later became colleagues with the class valedictorian, William H. Rehnquist. Upon graduating from law school, she married John J. O'Connor III.

As a woman in the legal profession, O'Connor could not find a job as a practicing attorney with the major law firms, despite her excellent academic achievements. She was, however, offered employment as a deputy attorney with San Mateo County, in California. Shortly thereafter, her husband was drafted and stationed in Frankfurt Germany. O'Connor accompanied him and found a job as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center. The couple returned to the United States in 1956 and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Approximately two years later, O'Connor opened her own law firm with another lawyer.

In 1960, Sandra Day O'Connor took a break from practicing law. For the next five years, she raised her three sons and remained active in the community by volunteering. At that time she also became involved in politics, particularly the Republican Party. She participated in the Maricopa County Young Republicans, as well as served on the presidential campaign for Arizona senator Barry M. Goldwater. In 1965, she returned to the legal field where she held a part-time position as an assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona. O'Connor's own political career began when she was selected to run for an open state senatorial seat. Once in office, O'Connor was re-elected twice, and during her second term she became the first woman in the country to be elected Senate Majority Leader.

In 1974, O'Connor chose to leave the Senate and pursue a career as a judge. She ran for a judgeship and was elected to serve in Maricopa County, Arizona Superior Court. There she earned the reputation of being an efficient, no-nonsense judge. Five years later, she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, which is the highest court of that state. Two years later she was nominated by President Reagan to serve on the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States.

In her early years on the Supreme Court, O'Connor sided with the conservative justices. However, by the mid-1980s she exhibited more autonomy and often filed concurring decisions. Concurring decisions are decisions that uphold the majority, but for a different reason usually on more limited grounds.

With the Supreme Court often equally divided, O'Connor's vote was often the deciding vote. She became known as the court's "swing vote." She generally supported claims of discrimination against women and supports the autonomy of state governments. In addition, she tended to side with conservatives in cases involving separation of church and state. In those cases she allowed for government funds to be used to aid religious groups.

In abortion cases, O'Connor's rulings sometimes seem contradictory. She voted to uphold a state statute barring abortion in state-supported medical facilities. However, she refused to overturn the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the United States. O'Connor also voted against a state law that required both parents of a minor to be notified before the minor has an abortion. By contrast, she upheld a state law that required a minor to get judicial approval before getting an abortion. In the 1999-2000 term, O'Connor sided with the majority in ruling that a law banning partial-birth abortions was unconstitutional because it limited access to other abortions as well. Justice O'Connor told an interviewer: "in the judiciary I do everything in my power not to reach out, but merely to interpret the law as it exists."

Recent Updates

March 8, 2004: O'Connor received the Elliot Richardson Public Service Prize from the Council for Excellence in Government. Source: US Newswire, http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp"id=104-03052004, March 5, 2004.

July 22, 2004: O'Connor, speaking at the annual conference of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Monterey, California, said she was "disgusted" by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that cast doubt on federal sentencing guidelines. Source: CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/22/oconnor.sentences.ap/index.html, August 29, 2004; Associated Press Newswires, July 23, 2004.

July 22, 2004: O'Connor, speaking at the annual conference of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Monterey, California, said she was "disgusted" by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that cast doubt on federal sentencing guidelines. Source: CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/22/oconnor.sentences.ap/index.html, July 23, 2004.