#Facts about sandra day o connor for free#
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She also voted against any added restrictions on abortion, such as the two parent notification law, which was struck down in Hodgson v. O'Connor never voted to severely limit abortion in any way, which was what conservative opponents of her nomination feared. Bush the president.Īlthough O'Connor believed that affirmative action programs shouldn't be a permanent part of the American legal and political landscape, she voted to uphold race based admissions to universities in Grotter v. In that case, O'Connor ruled with the other justices to end the challenges, thereby making George W.

One of her more notable rulings was in Bush v. She usually voted with the conservatives, but sided with the liberals in a number of important cases. When the Supreme Court became more evenly divided along political lines in the late 1990s, O'Connor was often the swing vote on 5-4 decisions. She was ultimately confirmed by the Senate in a 99-0 vote. Eisenhower in 1958.ĭespite being considered a conservative Republican, many conservatives opposed Reagan's nomination of O'Connor when it was learned that while she was a member of the Arizona Senate she voted to repeal the state's ban on abortion. O'Connor replaced Justice Potter Stewart on the Supreme Court, who was appointed by President Dwight D.

#Facts about sandra day o connor for free#

She even worked for free at times just to gain experience.

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The couple remained married until he died in 2009.Īlthough O'Connor did well in law school and made several professional connections that were useful in her later life, she found difficulty finding a job because of her sex throughout the 1950s. Sandra married John Jay O'Connor III in 1952 and would later have three children with him. She earned a BA in economics from Stanford University in 1950 and then went on the earn a law degree from Stanford in 1952.

Sandra grew up with two younger siblings. O'Connor was born Sandra Day in El Paso, Texas on Mato successful rancher Henry Day and his wife Ada. Although O'Connor was a conservative Republican and was a fairly reliable vote on the court for the conservative bloc, she was considered a moderate by most legal scholars. Before serving on the Supreme Court, O'Connor was actively involved in the Republican Party and government in the state of Arizona, serving in the Arizona Senate from 1969 to 1975 and then as a judge in Maricopa County until 1979 and finally on the Arizona Court of Appeals until 1981. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in September 1981 and quickly approved by the Senate, O'Connor served on the court until she retired in 2006, just two months shy of her seventy-sixth birthday. Sandra Day O'Connor is notable in American history for being the first female justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court.