Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court, Dead at 93
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According to a statement from the U.S. Supreme Court, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor passed away “of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness.” O’Connor, whose husband suffered from Alzheimer’s, first announced her diagnosis in 2018 in a letter explaining that as her condition progressed, she was “no longer able to participate in public life.”
The nation’s first female justice ascended to the court in 1981, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, who, in a bid to attract support from female voters, made a campaign promise to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court if he was elected. O’Connor served on the high court for almost a quarter century before retiring in 2006.
O’Connor, who occupied a place at the center of the court’s ideological spectrum for most of her tenure, had a motto embroidered on a pillow in her office: “Maybe In Error, But Never In Doubt.”
It was advice she reiterated to at least one woman who followed in her footsteps: Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “Make a decision, right or wrong,” O’Connor told Sotomayor. “The worst thing you can do is be indecisive.”
O’Connor herself did harbor doubts about at least one decision for which she cast the deciding vote: 2000’s Bush v. Gore. The decision halted a bitter, weekslong recount taking place in the state of Florida and handed the presidency to George W. Bush. In an interview with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune years after she stepped down, O’Connor suggested the court erred in accepting the case. “It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue … Maybe the court should have said, ‘We’re not going to take it, goodbye.’”
She added: “Obviously the court did reach a decision and thought it had to reach a decision. 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.” That decision is one of many that have contributed, in recent decades, to a crisis of legitimacy at the Supreme Court. Today, fewer than half Americans hold a favorable view of the court, according to the Pew Research Center — a historic low.
O’Connor was born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, and raised on her family’s cattle ranch in Arizona, where as a child she learned to ride a horse, shoot a rifle, and brand a cow. She ventured west for college, achieving her father’s dream of attending Stanford University, where she completed both a bachelor’s and a law degree in just six years. O’Connor graduated third in her class, behind her future colleague chief justice William Rehnquist, but struggled to find employment.
She worked as a public prosecutor — first as deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California, and later as one of Arizona’s assistant attorneys general — before pursuing a career in politics. A Republican, O’Connor became the first female majority leader of the Arizona Senate — and the first of her gender to serve as majority leader in any state.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote after the news of her death: “A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed an historic trail as our Nation’s first female Justice. She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor. We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education. And we celebrate her enduring legacy as a true public servant and patriot.”
O’Connor is survived by her three sons, Scott, Brian, and Jay.
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