Former Supreme Courtroom Justice Sandra Day O’Connor dies

Sandra Day O’Connor, the primary woman to function a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, has died.

O’Connor was 93 years outdated.

She died in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday “of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness,” the Supreme Courtroom stated in an announcement.

O’Connor was appointed to the court docket in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan and served almost a quarter-century, retiring in 2006.

She was changed by Justice Samuel Alito, who in 2022 wrote the bulk opinion overturning a federal proper to abortion that had been protected for many years by the instances Roe v. Wade and Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey.

O’Connor had co-authored the bulk opinion within the latter case, which Alito blasted for having “enflamed debate and deepened division” in the USA.

She stepped again from public life in late 2018, after having issues along with her short-term reminiscence, her household stated on the time.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in an announcement launched by the court docket, stated, “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,” Roberts stated. “And we celebrate her enduring legacy as a true public servant and patriot.”

Georgetown College Regulation College Professor Julie O’Sullivan, who clerked for O’Connor within the mid-Eighties, stated she was a “brilliant” justice who got here on to the court docket as a libertarian, however “who evolved quite a bit” through the years by way of authorized philosophy.

O’Sullivan additionally stated that O’Connor was “a very courageous woman to take” on the function of the primary feminine justice.

“She was always very conscious that everybody was watching,” stated O’Sullivan, noting that O’Connor was recognized to say that “she didn’t mind being the first, but she didn’t want to be the last.”

O’Connor insisted that the 9 justices “all have lunch together” usually, made lunch for her clerks once they labored on Saturdays, and strongly believed in getting alongside along with her colleagues, no matter their variations of opinion, O’Sullivan stated.

And “she knew how to get to five,” O’Sullivan famous, referring to the minimal variety of justices wanted for a majority ruling typically. “She was very strategic.”

Throughout her tenure, O’Connor was joined on the nine-member Supreme Courtroom by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Invoice Clinton in 1993. Earlier than O’Connor died, Ginsburg was the latest justice to have died, in September 2020.

4 different girls have been appointed to the court docket since Ginsburg was, all of whom are presently serving: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

O’Connor was serving as a choose on the Arizona Courtroom of Appeals when Reagan, a Republican, tapped her to grow to be the primary feminine on the Supreme Courtroom in its then 191-year historical past.

The El Paso, Texas, native beforehand served as assistant lawyer normal of Arizona, as a member of the Arizona state Senate, the place she was majority chief at one level, and as a choose of the Maricopa County Superior Courtroom.

O’Connor’s husband, John, died in 2009, three years after she retired to take care of him when he was affected by Alzheimer’s.

O’Sullivan stated that through the years on the court docket and afterward, O’Connor “looked out” for her former clerks, a few of whom she arrange with their future spouses.

“And she had these t-shirts that had ‘grand clerks’ on them,” stated O’Sullivan, noting with amusing that her personal son refused to put on that reward from the justice when he was a toddler.

O’Connor is survived by three sons, six grandchildren and her brother.

The Supreme Courtroom’s press workplace stated funeral preparations for O’Connor will probably be launched when accessible.