Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, 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, 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.
Some of the key events about Sandra Day O'Connor
- 1952Graduated from Stanford Law School third in her class
- 1969Appointed to the Arizona State Senate
- 1975Elected as judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court
- 1979Appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals
- 1981Became the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court
- 1981Voted to uphold the constitutionality of male-only draft registration in Rostker v. Goldberg
- 1986Cast the deciding vote to uphold Georgia's sodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick
- 1988Delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention
- 1989Voted to uphold restrictions on abortion in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
- 1990Voted to allow evidence obtained through warrantless searches in certain circumstances in Florida v. Wells
- 1992Voted to uphold a Pennsylvania law imposing restrictions on abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey
- 2000Cast the deciding vote in Bush v. Gore, effectively deciding the presidential election outcome
- 2001Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 2002Wrote the majority opinion upholding school voucher programs that include religious schools in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
- 2003Voted to uphold the use of race as a factor in college admissions in Grutter v. Bollinger
- 2005Named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal
- 2005Voted to allow the display of the Ten Commandments on government property in certain contexts in Van Orden v. Perry
- 2005Retired from the Supreme Court before many expected, allowing President George W. Bush to appoint her successor
- 2009Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction by President Barack Obama
- 2015Had a courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona named in her honor
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