Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, has died

“As a cowgirl from the Arizona desert, I never imagined that one day I would become the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court.”Growing up on a huge, isolated farm, she wrote to herself in 2018 “Very grateful” For his journey, despite the first attacks of the disease. US Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, died Friday 1^any December at the age of 93.

She was chosen in 1981 by Republican President Ronald Reagan, who was first appointed to the Supreme Court, and then retired in 2006, especially so that she could help her husband, John O’Connor, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and disappeared in 2009. Appointment of two more female judges to the Supreme Court, four of whom are currently serving, a record number for this institution.

Sandra Day O’Connor herself announced in 2018 that she was leaving public life to fight “Dementia, possibly Alzheimer’s disease.”. She died on Friday morning in the city of Phoenix, the capital of the state of Arizona (southwest), according to the court stated in a press statement, explaining that she had died. “Complications associated with advanced dementia, possibly Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory disease.”.

“A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female Supreme Court justice.”“Chief Justice John Roberts says hello “His unwavering determination, indisputable competence, and impeccable candor.”. “On the Supreme Court, we mourn a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent advocate for the rule of law and an eloquent civil rights activist.”he adds.

Average and practical

Throughout her quarter-century on the Supreme Court, with her centrist and pragmatic stance, she often succeeded in swaying majorities of the nine justices on landmark rulings. “This is undoubtedly Sandra Day O’Connor’s backyard.”said law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law School in California, in 2001.

“In almost every area of ​​constitutional law, the fifth deciding vote determines the position of the majority and the minority. Lawyers who appear before the court and present written arguments know that in practice they are often addressing an audience of only one person.He said.

In 1989 and then in 1992, Sandra Day O’Connor maintained Roe against. Wade in 1973, and the court finally overturned the current one in June 2022, recognizing the federal right to abortion by declining to add his voice to those of the more conservative justices. On the other hand, it sided with the court’s conservative majority to block a recount of Florida’s votes in the 2000 presidential election, allowing Republican candidate George W. Bush to win over his Democratic opponent, Al Goree.

This graduate of the prestigious Stanford Law School in California was also known for her adherence to the rights of federal states in the face of federal authority. It was Democratic President Barack Obama who awarded him America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, in 2009.

“Sandra Day O’Connor was like the pilgrim in the poem I sometimes quote—blazing a new path and building a bridge behind it so that all young women could follow.”Barack Obama responded to the announcement of his disappearance in a press release.

“I’ve always tried to find consensus.”Republican Chuck Grassley, Dean of the Senate, confirmed. “He was the first judge I had the honor of voting for as a senator.”He explained. The Senate approved his nomination by 99 votes to none.