1981 - Detail

September 21, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is approved unanimously, 99-0, by the United States Senate to become the first female Supreme Court associate justice in history.



Article by Jason Donovan

Throughout human history, there have been individuals who were the first among them to rise to great heights, thus breaking down the walls of segregation we humans put between ourselves. These pathfinders change not only the future of their group but also the world as a whole. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice in United States history, was one of these pathfinders, and the ripple effects of her activities on and off the bench are still felt today. Sandra Day was born on 26 March 1930 in El Paso, Texas, to Harry Alfred “D.A.” Day and Ada Mae “M.O.” Day, who owned the Lazy B, a 250 square mile cattle ranch that sits astride the Arizona-New Mexico border following the Gila River. The ranch had no electricity or running water. Life was hard for the family that would welcome two more children, Ann in 1938 and H. Alan Day in 1939. Sandra was known to be an intelligent child, learning to read by age four.

There were also many skills Sandra would learn on the Lazy B. She was a skillful rider. Her skillfulness as a rider should have been aspected, considering when she was young, her caretakers were cowboys. As a result, she was in the saddle as soon as she could sit in it. She did not shy away from the hard work on the ranch. She said she learned other lessons from her mother, one of which was “Do not take the bait.” Her mother was used to dealing with D.A.’s harsh treatment of his wife. This lesson, in particular, would serve her well throughout her life.

Receiving a good education was very important to her parents. Since the Lazy B was as isolated as it was, her parents sent her to live with her grandmother in El Paso, Texas, so she could attend the Radford School for Girls. She would go on to attend Austin High School, where she earned a class rank of sixth in her class, graduating at the age of sixteen. Once again, her mother may have had an effect on her education, being that she was the daughter of a prosperous merchant in Texas. Her mother was a hard worker and was “just as hard as her father.”

Sandra developed an “unquenchable thirst” and would continue her education after high school by attending Stanford University, graduating in 1950 after earning a bachelor’s degree in Economics. She would then be accepted by Stanford Law School graduating in 1952 with a law degree and earning a class rank of third. Even with all her scholastic success, the discriminatory forces baked into American society would try to hamper her path.

It is essential at this juncture to point out some developments in her personal life. One of the life-changing events occurred on 20 December 1952 when she married classmate John Jay O’Connor III at the Lazy B. John is said to be an exceptionally supportive husband and the” driving force behind their life.” They would go on to have three boys: Scott, born in 1957; Brian, born in 1960; and Jay, born in 1962. The discrimination mentioned above would accompany her throughout college and the rest of her life, for that matter. The societal bigotry reared its ugly head, especially when she started applying for jobs at firms, and they would only offer her a job as a legal secretary. She rightly refused these “offers,” which were, in reality, an open slight due to her being a woman. During this time in history, law was pretty much a male-only profession. Multiple firms rejected O’Connor. She eventually took a job with San Mateo County on the condition that she would work for free. She would work this job till she and John, an Army JAG lawyer, moved to Germany in 1954. While in Germany, she worked as a civilian lawyer for the Army Quartermaster Corps. They would be in Germany until 1954.

Upon their return to the States, O’Connor worked on Senator Barry M. Goldwater’s election campaign. She went on to found a practice with another lawyer in the Phoenix suburb of Maryvale. She was a devoted mother who spent “most of her time raising her sons.” When she did have downtime, she could be found volunteering in her community, thus starting her career in politics.

Her political career continued in 1969 when she began working in the Arizona Attorney General’s office as an assistant attorneys general. Her next step on her life’s path happened in 1969 when the state senator representing her district vacated his seat via resignation. As a result, then-Governor Jack Williams selected O’Connor to fill the seat. She would win her next two elections, the last in 1972, and she won comfortably. Not only did O’Connor win her reelection, but in the same year, she would make history for the first time when her fellow Republicans elected her to be Majority Leader. She was the first woman in American history ever to hold the position. She would transfer from the legislative to the judicial branch of the government when she won her election to become a Maricopa County Superior Court judge. Another step along her path came in 1979 when Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed her to the Arizona Court of Appeals. The last step on her journey as a lawyer would come in 1981.

The Nomination

In 1981, fulfilling one of his campaign promises of nominating her to the Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor on the 7th of July at a press conference to announce her nomination. During this press conference, Judge O’Connor refused to say how she would decide on specific topics as they come in front of the Court. She refused to do so pending her nomination hearings. When asked, “How do you view yourself as a legal, as far as the law’s concerned? Your legal approach?”. Her answer was simple: “I simply try to do as good a job as I can with each question as it arises.”. She was then asked, “Would you put a label on yourself- moderate or constructionist?. She was unwilling to put such a label upon herself. When asked, “Would you reflect on that aspect of it-being the first woman?”. To this question, she answered “I don’t know if I can. In approaching the work on the bench, I can only say that I will approach it with care and effort and do the best job that I possibly can do, and I’ve always tried to do that with any position that I’ve held.” Lastly, when asked if her state legislature experiences effects her thinking as a judge.

To paraphrase, she said that our experiences reflect what we are in some way, and I appreciate the legislative process because I have been part of that process. As with every nominee to such a high office in the government, O’Connor had to go through nomination hearings, which began in September. Over the three days of the nationally televised hearings, her inquisitor’s questions were regarding such hot button topics such as her position “on the 1973 Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion. This was then as it still is today, a lightning rod issue. To this question … She answered “adroitly, alternating among circumspection, evasion, and in-depth legalistic analysis.” After the hearings came to an end, an article in TIME magazine, which stated in part… “Through three days of hearings, O’Connor retained total control of the proceedings.”. With a vote of 99 to 0, the Senate would confirm Judge O’Connor. She would take the oath of office on 25 September 1981 to officially become the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

Life as a Judge

Justice O’Connor, as mentioned above, had faced many challenges throughout the course of her life. She was constantly under extreme pressure. This pressure was the price she paid for being the first; she was keenly aware that her actions were under endless scrutiny and that any mistake may have far-reaching consequences. She is reported to have said on multiple occasions that… “More important than being the first female Supreme Court justice was not being the last.” Being the last woman to be in her position was, allegedly, her deepest worry. The people who knew her said that she carried this strain and stress with unending poise and graceful dignity. O’Connor was said to be… “the glue of the court… that made this place civil”.

An example is when she first arrived at the Court; she noticed that just four of the nine justices showed up for the weekly lunch. To quote Nina Totenberg’s article titled “The personal Sandra Day O’Connor: A force and front stage star”. She was known to sit in her colleague’s office till they came with her to lunch. Justice Clarance Thomas relates an anecdotal example of this to the author of “First, Sandra Day O’Connor: An Intimate Portrait of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice.” Evan Thomas: “On his very first day, Thomas, feeling glum and alone, is walking down the hall when O’Connor comes up to him and tells him, “Those hearings were very harmful.” The next day she shows up again and says, You’ve got to come to lunch.” But he doesn’t want to. He wants to be alone. The next day she’s back,” and says “‘Clarance you have to come to lunch.’ He finally does. He said, ‘You know it made all the difference for me. I went from being lonely and alone to coming to lunch.’ A little simple thing, but he joined the group because he realized that life has got to go on, this group has got to get along. She made him realize that.”

At this point, looking at the Supreme Court decisions she was involved in is essential. Her first opinion came on 1 July 1982 in a 5-4 decision in Mississippi University for Women v Hogan. Justice O’Connor’s majority opinion was that the school’s women-only admissions policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. She argued, “MUW’s admissions policy lends credibility to the old view that woman, not men, should become nurses, and makes the assumption that nursing is a field for women a self-fulfilling prophecy.”. This decision was a watershed moment for gender equality in the United States.

On 15 June 1983, Justice O’Connor waded into the murky waters of a perpetual issue that divides the country when she dissented in a 6-3 decision in “City Of Akron V. Akron Center For Reproductive Health.” While the majority opinion struck down parts of the law such as a 24 hour waiting period, a requirement that doctors tell the patient “of the stage of fetal development, the health risks of the procedure, and the availability of adoption and childbirth resourced.”. O’Connor’s dissenting opinion stated…” I believe that the State’s interest in protecting potential human life exists throughout the pregnancy.”. This case was only the first time she would help mold and uphold the nearly fifty-year status quo on the issue of abortion. The second time would come on 29 June 1992, in Planned Parenthood V. Casey. A 5-4 decision. In this pivotal abortion rights case, Justice O’Connor sided with the majority opinion. In this decision … “The Court affirmed the constitutional right to have an abortion, established in Roe v Wade (1973), but altered the standard for analyzing restrictions on that right by establishing the undue burden standard for abortion restrictions, which limited restrictions made for “the purpose of effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.”

This case was arguably the first real challenge to Roe v Wade since President H.W. Bush’s appointees, Justices Clarance Thomas and David Souter, were sworn in. Roe was upheld because Justices Kennedy, O’Connor, and Souter surprisingly joined the majority opinion. By chronological order of cases, the next abortion case after Casey was Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic.

Bray is, arguably, another important case that shows that Justice O’Connor was consistent in her view on the abortion issue. In the 13 January 1993 decision, the 6-3 majority ruled: “…anti-abortion protesters blocking access to the Northeast Women’s Center, on Wednesday, July 6, 1988, in Philadelphia, had not conspired against a protected class and therefore did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1871.” In her dissent, Justice O’Connor stated “... that women were indeed a protected class and therefore should be protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1871.”

Other Sandra Day O'Connor Decisions

Of course, there are other rulings regarding the subject of abortion that Justice O’Connor contributed to that will not be discussed within the confines of this piece. Another subject that O’Connor’s opinion affected was how she helped shape the Court’s approach to the First Amendment’s religion clauses. On 4 June 1985, in the case of Wallace v Jaffree in a 6-3 decision, O’Connor sided with the majority opinion: “… that Alabama law allowing teachers to conduct a one-minute optional prayer and meditation violated the U.S. Constitution. However, the Court allowed the meditation portion of the law. Under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the state is obligated to provide absolute neutrality toward religion.”

Wallace v. Jaffree was the only time O’Connor would contribute to an opinion regarding religion in public life, which would come in the case of Lee v. Weisman. On 24 June 1992, Lee v. Weisman was decided in a 5-4 decision; the Court’s majority opinion answered the question of: “Does the inclusion of clergy who offer prayers at official public school ceremonies violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment?”

The Court’s answer was yes when: “…the Court held that government involvement in this case creates “a state-sponsored and state-directed religious exercise in a public school.” Such conduct conflicts with settled rules proscribing prayer for students. The school’s rule creates subtle and indirect coercion (students must stand respectfully and silently), forcing students to act in ways which establish a state religion. The cornerstone principle of the Establishment Clause is that government may not compose official prayers to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government.”

These two cases show Justice O’Connor’s consistency on this topic. She stayed the course on the separation of church and state, which is a keystone of the U.S. Constitution.

Perhaps one of the most controversial decisions made by the Court was the 12 December 2000 5-4 “per curiae opinion” in Bush v. Gore. In this decision, the Court decided two aspects of the case regarding the Florida recount of Florida’s popular vote in the 2000 election. The Court’s opinion halted the recount and allowed the certification made by Florida’s Secretary of State to stand. Due to this decision, George W. Bush would, with Florida’s 25 electoral votes, become the 43rd president of the United States.

The fact that all five justices who voted to halt the recount were those appointed by republican presidents this “created tension between the justices.” The Court’s decision to weigh in on the situation has, to many in American society, damaged their view of the Supreme Court as a credible judicial institution. After leaving the Court, O’Connor would tell the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board “that she doubted whether the Supreme Court should have taken the case in the first place,” stating, “Maybe the court should have said, We’re not going to take it, goodbye.” The above-mentioned cases are only a sample of the plethora of decisions that Justice O’Connor was associated with. There have been volumes on how Justice O’Connor’s decisions have affected American life. After roughly a quarter century on the Court, it came to an end on 31 January 2006 when she retired in order to care for her husband, who had been, since 1989, suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. He passed away in 2009. Thus not just ending his suffering but also ending her agony of watching him deteriorate over the course of 20 years.

Her accomplishments on the Supreme Court were only part of Justice O’Connor’s impact on the world during her life. She would go on to help found organizations to pay it forward. She would help found the Arizona Women Lawyers Association and the National Association of Women Judges. Then, in 2009, she founded the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute For American Democracy. The institute is a non-profit organization focusing on providing resources for Civics Education, Civic Engagement, and Civil Discourse.

Sandra Day O’Connor was indeed a pathfinder for women lawyers in general and women as a whole. The path she forged has shown a light forward and broken down those walls of segregation and, by doing so, showed her critics who held old views of a woman’s abilities. That women could do the same job and succeed at the highest level in the land. Justice O’Connor has been called “the perfect first” through determination, grit, intelligence, and ability. She was concerned about being the last of her gender to hold her position.

On the contrary, her legacy lives on throughout every citizen’s life. Justice O’Connor’s storied life came to an end in Phoenix, Arizona, on 1 December 2023. She was 93 years old.

Photo above: Photograph of Sandra Day O'Connor Being Sworn in a Supreme Court Justice by Chief Justice Warren Burger, Her Husband John O'Connor Looks On, 09/25/1981, White House Photographic Office, Ronald Reagan Library via Wikipedia Commons. Photo Below: Montage of Pictures of Sandra Day O'Connor. (left) Sandra Day O'Connor, 1981/3, Library of Congress. (right) Sandra Day O'Connor, 2011, Library of Congress via Wikipedia Commons. Info source:Howe, Amy. “Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93, 2023, Scotusblog.com; Smentkowski, Brian P., Sandra Day O’Connor - United States jurist, Britannica.com; Biography.com Editors, Biography.com; Day O’connor, Sandra & Day, H. Alan, “Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest”. Random House, 2002; Bookshare.com; O’Connor Day “Stanford commencement speech," 1982: The Individual Often Does Make A Difference In Society”, oconnorlibrary.org; Fritze, John, “Audience of one.” A look at some of Sandra Day O’Connor’s biggest Supreme Court decision.”. USA Today. 1 Dec. 2023; Gergen, David & Zuckerman “Case by Case: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Biggest Decisions” Parade.com. 30 Sep 2012; "Where Sandra Day O’Connor Stood on Key Supreme Court Decisions” Timeline. PBS.com, 20 Aug. 2021; Totenberg, Nina. “The personal Sandra Day O’Connor: A backstage force and front stage star” NPR.com 1 Dec. 2023; “Sandra Day O’Connor and her family through the years”. azcenteral.com, 28 Dec 2018; Mcguire, Jen. “Trailblazing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Has Died At The Age Of 93”. Romper 1 Dec.2023; "Dallas, Kelsey, “Sandra Day O’Connor’s religious freedom legacy 5 Dec. 2023, Deseret News; Lupu, Ira C., Elwood, F. & Davis, Eleanor. “Religion in the Public Schools”; "Lee v. Weisman." Oyez, 1991; "Bush v. Gore." Oyez, 2000.

History Photo Bomb

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Timeline History

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ABH Travel Tip

Take a trip along the Appalachian Trail. There are a myriad of National Park and other historic sites either on the trail or just nearby. From Acadia National Park in Maine to Harper's Ferry National Park in West Virginia, plus other Civil War sites nearby, down to Georgia. So you can take a hike, visit some history, and see a whole lot a nature and beauty along the way.

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