Sandra Day O’Connor: First Women Supreme Court Justice

Philip Petak

November 27, 2007

Mount Aloysius College

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandra Day O’Connor was born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso Texas. O’Connor went on to live her early life on her family’s Arizona Ranch. During her younger years she rode horses and tended to the cattle. And did many things boys would do.  O’Connor went back to El Paso Texas when she was five to attend Radford School for Girls. At fifteen she switched to Austin High School and graduated at sixteen. O’Connor later went on to Stanford University were she majored in economics, earned a B.A. with honors and went on to Law School. She earned her L.L.B in two years, was an editor for the Stanford Law Review and was ranked third in her class out of 102. One of her classmates and fellow editors was William H. Rehnquist, who would later become the Supreme Court Chief Justice, was ranked first in the class. In the class below her was John Jay O’Connor which would later become her husband soon after O’Connor graduated in 1952.

O’Connor soon was searching for employment with a law firm in California but was unsuccessful because or the reluctance of firms to higher a female attorney. She found that government was much more excepting of women and received a job as deputy attorney of San Mateo County. For several years her husbands work caused her to move to Frankfurt, Germany. On returning to the Phoenix Arizona area, she worked part time with her partner in their own law office. During her part time job, she worked at many local civic affairs. Such as Maricopa County Board of Adjustments, Governor's Committee on Marriage and Family, and the Arizona State Hospital Administrator. She also volunteered as a court referee for juvenile cases and making recommendations to the judge. O’Conner became very active in the Republican Party. By 1965 she decided to resume her career full-time. During all these activities and jobs, she still found time to have three sons, all born within six years.

O’Connor’s work seemed to focus on state government. From 1965-1969 she was Arizona’s assistant attorney general. In 1969 governor Jack Williams Appointed her to a vacant seat in the Arizona Senate; as a republican she won the election in both 1970 and again in 1972. In 1972 she became majority leader; she was the first women in the United States in that post. Her voting record ranged from moderate to conservative. O’Connor was very “balanced” on her voting. She seemed to favor women’s rights for abortion and favored some use of the death penalty. Her voting record in the Arizona Supreme Court led to her nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1981.

On July 7, 1981, President Reagan, who had pledged during the 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court, nominated Sandra Day O’Connor as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. On September 21, 1981 The Senate voted her onto the Supreme Court 99-0 and she took her new seat as an associate justice on September 25. In her early years as a Supreme Court Justice, O’Connor received much scrutiny mostly for being the first women in her position. O’Connor was being watched by ever eye in America.  She was very conservative on her early voted but seemed to become a little more moderate after she became use to the court.

Justice O’Connor was treated for breast cancer in 1988 and had her appendix removed the same year. Over the next seventeen years, speculation arose whether she would retire or not. On December 12, 2000 the Wall Street Journal reported that O’Connor was reluctant to retire with a Democrat in office:

“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.”

Chief Justice William Rehnquist was expected to be the first Supreme Court Judge to step down during Presidents Bush’s term. But on July 1, 2005, Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement. She stated in her letter to President Bush that she would remain until her replacement was appointed. President Bush nominated John G. Roberts to replace O’Connor. She was pleased with the nomination and was awaiting replacement when William Rehnquist died. Bush withdrew his nomination of Roberts to replace O’Connor and gave the Chief Justice nomination to Roberts. O’Connor had to wait another two nominations until her replacement was finally sworn in on January 31, 2006.

     Sandra Day O’Connor contributed greatly to the field of Criminology. She was a hard working public protector in the south west. She achieved the greatest accomplishment for women of her time. O’Connor had reached the highest level of the United States Judicial Branch. Her votes helped to shape the U.S. by providing a conservative yet some what moderate voice to the Courts. She voted on many important topics that faced the U.S. and the judicial system. Her inelegance and well educated criminal law background help her decide on key issues. O’Connor voted on 137 cases which ranged from the infamous Roe v. Wade case, too United States v. Lopez case. As a woman she helped to shape a part of the nation much like some of our founding fathers once did.

     I am majoring in criminology and I would want to emulate Sandra Day O’Connor because of her well rounded career. She worked in many law firms and in many legal settings. She reached the pinnacle of the judicial system by becoming a part of the Supreme Court. I would want to reach any height in the United States Government. Working hard shows that anyone, even a woman can reach big goals; even goals that would seem impossible at the time. My goals would be to graduate and begin a career with the federal Government much like Sandra Day O’Connor. I might not ever reach the Supreme Court but I would want to stride to the highest place in my field that I could reach. Determination and perseverance are something that helped O’Connor, and I will do the same to reach my goals.
 

Works Cited

Gale Cengage Learning. (n.d.). Sandra Day O'Conner. Retrieved November 26, 2007, from http://gale.cengage.com/free_resources/whm/bio/oconnor_s.htm

O'Conner, S. D. (2003). The Majesty of Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice. New York: Random House.

Supreme Court Historical Society. (1999). Sandra Day O'Conner . Retrieved November 26, 2007, from http://www.supremecourthistory.org/myweb/justice/o'connor.htm

Wikipedia Foundation inc. (2007). Sandra Day O'Conner. Retrieved November 26, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O'Connor