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Dec 19, 2023 · 8. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was honored at her funeral service in Washington for her trailblazing role as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. She died earlier this month at the age of ...
- Abbie Vansickle
- 2 min
- Overview
- The first woman on the Supreme Court
Washington — Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was honored at her funeral on Tuesday as a trailblazing jurist who served as a role model for millions by breaking down gender barriers for women across the legal profession.
O'Connor died in Phoenix on Dec. 1 at the age of 93. Until her retirement in 2006, O'Connor was the Supreme Court's ideological center for more than two decades, providing the decisive vote in dozens of cases that influenced a wide swath of American life over her tenure.
All nine sitting justices and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy were on hand for Tuesday's ceremony at the National Cathedral in Washington. President Biden and Chief Justice John Roberts were among those who eulogized the late justice.
"One need not agree with all her decisions in order to recognize that her principles were deeply held and of the highest order, and that her desire for civility was genuine and her trust in the capacity of human institutions to make life better is what this world was abiding," the president said in his remarks. "And how she embodied such attributes under such pressure and scrutiny helped empower generations of women in every part of American life."
Mr. Biden, who spent more than 30 years in the Senate before becoming vice president, recalled taking up O'Connor's nomination to the Supreme Court while he was the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"It was a person for all seasons who we saw in that hearing, and the Americans and the world would see through her extraordinary service as a justice and, as I might add, as a citizen," the president said, adding that O'Connor broke down "the barriers in the legal and political world, and the nation's consciousness."
Nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate unanimously, O'Connor was the first woman justice in the court's 191-year history. More than four decades after her historic confirmation, four women now sit on the Supreme Court.
She spent much of her 24-year tenure on the court at its center and was a crucial swing vote in divisive cases, notably on abortion. In 1991, O'Connor, with Kennedy and Justice David Souter, authored the majority opinion in a case that reaffirmed the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. In 2003, she wrote the majority opinion in a case allowing the narrowly tailored use of race in university admissions decisions.
More than 15 years after O'Connor left the Supreme Court, the court's conservative justices, who now hold a 6-3 majority, would go on to overturn Roe and end race-conscious admissions programs. The majority opinion unwinding the constitutional right to abortion was authored by Justice Samuel Alito, who replaced O'Connor on the high court.
Born in 1930, O'Connor grew up on her family's cattle ranch in southeastern Arizona, called the "Lazy B." She graduated third in her class at Stanford Law, two places behind her future Supreme Court colleague, Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
O'Connor met her husband, John Jay O'Connor, while in law school. He died in 2009 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.
Before joining the Supreme Court, O'Connor served in the Arizona State Senate and, upon becoming the chamber's majority leader, was the first woman to serve in the role for any state senate. She began her career in the judiciary in 1974 when she was elected to the Maricopa County Superior Court and then was a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
- Politics Reporter, Cbsnews.Com
- 2 min
Dec 5, 2023 · And both would die from complications of the disease, which always wins in the end. But before any of that, the disease would come for Sandra Day O’Connor’s husband, John Jay O’Connor III.
Dec 19, 2023 · Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images. A funeral service for former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has started at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The funeral comes a day after members of the public had an opportunity to pay their respects in front of the Supreme Court — where O’Connor laid in repose.
Dec 2, 2023 · How did John Jay O’Connor die? Before Sandra Day died in December 2023, she had lost her husband, John Jay, 14 years prior. In the early 2000s, John Jay O’Connor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Dec 1, 2023 · She died on Friday morning in Phoenix, Arizona due to complications related to dementia and a respiratory illness, a statement by the US Supreme Court said. A moderate conservative, Justice...
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Dec 20, 2023 · Tributes to O'Connor, who died on Dec. 1 at age 93, were also delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts and O'Connor's son Jay O'Connor. Sandra Day O'Connor died in Phoenix, Arizona, of ...
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