The first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1981, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was a moderate and pragmatic conservative, whose positions often favored compromise within the institution she left in 2006.
Considered by many to be "the most powerful woman in America" during her nearly 25 years on the bench, O'Connor died Friday at age 93, after years of battling Alzheimer's.
She was appointed in September 1981 by Republican President Ronald Reagan, ending 191 years of male exclusivity on the high court. She remained the only female element until Bill Clinton named Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993. "The power I wield over the court depends on the power of my arguments, not my gender," she said in 1990. Appointed for life, she left the Court in early 2006, in part to help her husband John O'Connor fight Alzheimer's.
Moderate Conservative
A moderate conservative, she has often provided the decisive fifth vote among the nine justices, voting with her conservative colleagues as the case may be—for example, when the Florida recount was blocked in the 2000 presidential election, opening the White House to George W. Bush—or with progressives.
Many jurists and lawyers have come to defend their cases before the Court, with particular attention paid to Ms. O'Connor. "The rule of law ... must be flexible enough to adapt to different circumstances," she said in 2001. Her influence on the issue of abortion rights in particular has been emblematic.
In 1989, Sandra Day O'Connor refused to join four justices willing to challenge the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling making abortion a constitutional right. Opponents of abortion had to wait until June 2022 to obtain a historic turnaround, thanks to the arrival of conservative justices appointed by Donald Trump.
Appointed by Reagan
Born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, Sandra Day grew up in Arizona on a huge and isolated ranch, in a family that was not very religious, open to intellectual debate and travel, where she also learned to drive at the age of 7 and to shoot a pistol. She attended the prestigious Stanford University in California, where her father dreamed of studying. She graduated from law school with honours in 1952, met her husband, John O'Connor, and became a lawyer. The couple has three sons.
Ms. O'Connor then became an assistant attorney and was elected to the Arizona State Assembly. In 1981, when Ronald Reagan, who had promised during his campaign to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, was thinking of her, Sandra O'Connor was a judge in Arizona and at the time a virtual unknown outside her state's borders.
Suddenly in the spotlight, after a historic appointment, she was first the target of critics and sceptics, who pointed out her lack of experience. Some on the right were worried about her views on abortion, while others on the left were concerned about her positions on feminist issues. But she quickly threw herself into her projects, and quite quickly established herself by her independence and her work force.
Decorated by Obama
In 1988, she was diagnosed with breast cancer requiring a delicate operation. This energetic woman with abundant silver hair is only two weeks away from the prestigious institution. After leaving the Court in 2006, she founded the organization iCivics in 2009 to teach middle and high school students the basics of civic education online.
Before leaving public life in 2018 to fight Alzheimer's himself, it was a Democratic president, Barack Obama, who presented him with America's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, in 2009. He then salutes his lightning rise in a world dominated by men.
"Sandra Day O'Connor is like the pilgrim in a poem she sometimes quotes, the one who cleared a new path and built a bridge for so many other women to follow." The U.S. Supreme Court now has 4 out of 9 female justices.