Sandra Day was born on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Harry Alfred Day, a rancher, and Ada Mae (Wilkey). She grew up on a 198,000-acre family cattle ranch near Duncan, Arizona and in El Paso … See more

On December 12, 2000, The Wall Street Journal reported that O'Connor was reluctant to retire with a Democrat in the presidency: "At an Election Night party at the Washington, D.C., home of Mary Ann Stoessel, widow of former Ambassador Walter Stoessel See more

Upon her appointment to the Supreme Court, O'Connor and her husband moved to the Kalorama area of Washington, D.C. The O'Connors became active in the Washington, D.C., social scene. O'Connor played tennis and golf in her spare time. She was a See more

While in her final year at Stanford Law School, Day began dating John Jay O'Connor III, who was one class year behind her. On … See more

Nomination and confirmation
On July 7, 1981, Reagan – who had pledged during his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Court – announced he would nominate O'Connor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court to … See more

In her retirement, O'Connor continued to speak and organize conferences on the issue of judicial independence. During a March 2006 speech at Georgetown University, O'Connor said some political attacks on the independence of the courts pose a direct threat … See more

O'Connor was particularly remembered for being the first woman on the Court, and for functioning as the swing vote in the 5–4 decision in See more