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Sandra Day O’Connor, 1st Female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Image by Library of Congress – Wikimedia

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Sandra Day O鈥機onnor

Sandra Day O鈥機onnor is a retired associate justice of the supreme court and politician. She was born on March 26th, 1930 in El Paso, Texas. She grew up on a family ranch well known as Lazy b. This is where she often worked and learned the value of hard work.

Sandra O鈥機onnor was both the first woman to be appointed as the senate majority leader and as the first female associate justice of the supreme court. She made several high-profile contributions most notably Webster v. Reproductive Health Services.

Justice O鈥機onnor retired in 2006 after a career that spanned 52 years. 25 of those were spent in the supreme court. She however did not slow down as she launched iCivics an online civic education venture. It aimed to educate the upcoming generations about government.

1. O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court

2/C Cadet Melissa McCafferty and Justice O’Connor. Image by USCG Press –

Sandra Day O鈥機onnor made history as the first woman to be appointed as a justice of the supreme court of the United States of America. This was during President Ronald Reagan’s administration where during his campaign trail he had stated that he would appoint the first woman to the position.

Justice O鈥機onnor stated that she did not know she was a finalist and had received notification of her nomination a day before the announcement. Her confirmation hearing was the first to be televised for a supreme court justice.

Her stance on abortion was one of the reasons why she was selected as it was suspected that she would not be willing to overturn the Roe vs Wade decision.  This was despite protests from conservative activists such as Reverend Jerry Falwell.

2. She was the first female majority leader of the state senate

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Image by Gage Skidmore – Wikimedia

Sandra O鈥機onnor was appointed to the Arizona Senate in 1969 by the governor to fill a vacancy and ran for the seat in the subsequent year and won. In 1973 she became the first woman to serve as majority leader in any state by serving as majority leader in Arizona state.

During her two terms, she became known as a skilled negotiator and moderator before deciding to leave the senate and returning to serve the court at the Maricopa County superior court and later at the Arizona state court of appeals before being appointed to the supreme court.

3. She is pro-planned parenting

From left to right: Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor, (Ret.), Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Justice Elena Kagan. Image by Steve Petteway, photographer for the Supreme Court of the United States. –Wikimedia

Despite her conservative nature, her views on abortion were widely known which was one of the reasons some conservatives were against her appointment to the supreme court as they suspected she would not be able to overturn the Roe vs Wade case the supreme court and they were not wrong.

Sandra O鈥機onnor did not strike down most restrictions on abortion during her tenure. She however allowed for some limits to it.

4. O’Connor is a philanthropist

After her retirement, she launched a website now known as Icivics where she would teach students about how the United States government worked after realizing that a lot of young Americans did not understand how the government worked. The website also included interactive games.

O鈥機onnor has also served in the national constitution center as a board member and later transitioned into trustee emeritus for the center

She founded Sandra Day O鈥機onnor Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with civic engagement, civic education, and promoting civil discourse. She was also the co-chair of the National Advisory Board at the National Institute for Civil Discourse, an institute she helped found after the shooting of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011.

5. She was a conservative

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Image by Moody College of Communication from Austin, USA – Wikimedia

Sarah was regarded as a conservative since she mostly sided with the conservatives when it came to matters of the court. However, at times she went against her beliefs and often voted depending on the case at hand. This made her be considered as a swing vote in some cases.

6. O’Connor is educated and has two degrees

USSCB justices full2005. Image by Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States –

Sandra鈥檚 parents from early on wanted a good education for her and as soon as she reached a mature age they sent her to live in El Paso with her grandmother as there were no schools near their ranch.

At 16 she joined Stanford University where she completed and graduated with a degree in economics. She later joined Stanford Law School where she graduated near the top of her class. It is while studying there that she met future chief justice of the United States William Rehnquist who was valedictorian for their year and whom they would later come to be referred to as the Arizona twins due to voting identically for most decisions.

7. She declined a paid position to work for free

Sandra O’Connor. Image by Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Uruguay from Montevideo, Uruguay-  Wikimedia

Immediately after graduating from law school Sandra Day O鈥機onnor found it difficult to land a job due to her gender she was offered a paid secretarial position at a law firm but opted to work for free as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California.

During her free tenure, she did not have an office and shared an office with the secretary she later started getting paid for performing legal research and writing memos.

8. She is an author

Sandra Day O鈥機onner shared her experiences both from her childhood and career which she shared in her books.

She authored books such as Lazy B which was published in the year 2002 she co-authored with her brother. The book focused on the family鈥檚 ranch and her experiences growing up there.

She also authored Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme court a book that focuses on the evolution of the supreme court from its uncertain beginnings to its current stature.

9. O’Connor is a teacher

After her retirement in 2006, Sandra O鈥機onnor became aware of the lack of public knowledge on how the government works she set out and created a website Icivic where she would teach teachers and students alike how the government works.

Sarah O鈥機onnor also lectured at the University of Arizona every spring semester in a two-week course named 鈥淭he Supreme Court鈥�. She also taught a course at the Sandra Day O鈥機onnor College of Law together with her colleague W Scott Bales.

10. She beat cancer

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates meets with former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Photo by Cherie A. Thurlby –

Sandra Day O鈥機onnor was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 on first getting the news she was devastated and almost gave up however the next day she bounced back and in typical Sandra fashion she decided to fight it and was able to beat it after undergoing a surgical procedure surprisingly she never missed a day in court and was dancing ten days after the surgery.