“S  ociety as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement, and remuneration based on ability,” said Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner (1930-2023). Nominated for the Court by President Ronald Reagan, O’Conner was the first woman to serve on the nation’s highest Court—from 1981 to her retirement in 2006—and was known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions.

Sandra Day’s childhood was spent on her family’s cattle ranch—the Lazy-B near Duncan, Arizona. “It was no country for sissies,” she wrote in her memoire. In school, her academic prowess was evident from an early age. She graduated high school at age 16, followed by a magna cum laude distinction with a B.A. in economics from Stanford University in 1950 and a law degree from Stanford Law in 1952. Following graduation though, no law firm would hire her; so she volunteered in the County attorney’s office in San Mateo County, California where she eventually became Deputy County Attorney. That same year, she married John Jay O’Conner III. They returned to Arizona in 1957 where she had three sons.

Professionally, Sandra Day O’Conner held several positions in the law— private practice in Maryvale, Arizona, Assistant Attorney General of Arizona, Arizona State Senator, Judge in the Maricopa County Superior Court, and Judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals.

While on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice O’Conner participated in the outcomes of many pivotal cases of the time, including decisions about the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, affirmative action, and abortion. Those notable cases included County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union (1989), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), New York v. United States (1992), Bush v. Gore (2000), New York v. United States (2003), Virginia v. Black (2003) Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004).

United States (2003), Virginia v. Black (2003) Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004). Sandra Day O’Conner published five books, including two for children, and wrote countless articles on the law. In 2006, Arizona State University renamed its law school the Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law. She is remembered as a moderate conservative, a trailblazer, legal luminary, and “one who never lost sight of how the high Court’s decisions affected all Americans.”