Sandra Day O'Connor

Life and history

O'Connor was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up on a cattle ranch in the southeastern Arizona town of Duncan. She later wrote a book about her childhood experiences on the ranch, "Lazy B," with her brother, H. Alan Day.

Related Topics:
El Paso, Texas - Cattle ranch - Arizona - Duncan

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She attended Stanford University, where she received her B.A. in economics in 1950. She continued at the Stanford Law School for her LL.B., graduating in two years (instead of the customary three), serving on the Stanford Law Review, and

Related Topics:
Stanford University - B.A. - Economics - 1950 - Stanford Law School - LL.B. - Stanford Law Review

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graduating toward the top of a class http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:rz-JCo7R-yAJ:www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0712montini12.html+Rehnquist+and+O%27Connor&hl=en of 102 of which William Rehnquist was valedictorian. (O'Connor actually dated Rehnquist for a period of time. http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050702/NEWS08/507020356/1025/NEWS)

Related Topics:
William Rehnquist - Valedictorian

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In spite of her accomplishments at law school, no law firm in California was willing to hire her as a lawyer, although one firm did offer her a position as a legal secretary. She therefore turned to public service, taking a position as Deputy County Attorney of San Mateo County, California from 1952-1953 and as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany from 1954-1957. From 1958-1960, she practiced law in the Maryvale area of the Phoenix metropolitan area, and served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965-1969.

Related Topics:
Lawyer - San Mateo County, California - Frankfurt - Germany - 1954 - 1957 - 1958 - 1960 - Phoenix metropolitan area - 1965 - 1969

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In 1969 she was appointed to the Arizona State Senate and was subsequently re-elected as a Republican to two two-year terms. In 1973, she became the first woman to serve as a state senate majority leader in any state.

Related Topics:
1969 - Arizona State Senate - Republican - 1973 - Senate majority leader

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In 1975, she was elected judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Democratic governor Bruce Babbitt. During her time in Arizona state government, she served in all three branches. On August 19, 1981, President Reagan, who had pledged during the 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court, nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart. She was confirmed by the Senate 99-0 on September 21 and took her seat September 25. In her first year on the Court, O'Connor received over sixty thousand letters from the public, more than any other justice in history. O'Connor was unprepared for the scrutiny that came with being the first woman on the Court, and was relieved when Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined her in 1993.

Related Topics:
1975 - Maricopa County - 1979 - Bruce Babbitt - August 19 - 1981 - President Reagan - 1980 presidential campaign - Potter Stewart - September 21 - September 25 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 1993

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She married John Jay O'Connor III in 1952 and has three sons. She is an avid golfer who scored a hole-in-one in 2000 at the Paradise Valley Country Club in Arizona. http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,999301,00.html?internalid=related http://www.golfdigest.com/features/index.ssf?/features/gd200301kindred.html

Related Topics:
1952 - Golfer - Hole-in-one - 2000 - Paradise Valley Country Club

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The same year O'Connor rose to national prominence, the film First Monday in October ? which focused on a conservative justice (Jill Clayburgh) being the first female appointed to the Supreme Court ? was released. The timing was little more than an amusing coincidence, as October had been written years before O'Connor's appointment.

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In 1985, at a Washington Press Club dinner, an intoxicated Washington Redskins player John Riggins infamously told O'Connor: "Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight," then passed out on the floor. The next day, the women with whom she shared an early morning exercise class presented her with a T-shirt that read: "Loosen up at the Supreme Court." She apparently bore him no ill will ? years later, when he made his acting debut at a local playhouse, she gave him a dozen roses on opening night. O'Connor made her own brief foray into acting one night in 1996 with a surprise appearance as Queen Isabel in a Shakespeare Theatre's production of Henry V.

Related Topics:
1985 - Washington Redskins - John Riggins - 1996 - Henry V

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In 1989, a letter O'Connor wrote regarding three Court rulings on Christian heritage was used by a group of conservative Arizona Republicans in their claim that America was a "Christian nation". She said, "It was not my intention to express a personal view on the subject of the inquiry."

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