Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is a true pioneer, having been the
first woman to lead a state senate, the first woman to serve on the United
States Supreme Court and the first woman to have her name attached to a law
school, the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
Justice O'Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26,
1930. She grew up on the Day family's 198,000 acre cattle ranch, the Lazy-B,
in southeastern Arizona. She experienced a difficult life on the ranch in
her early childhood. The ranch itself did not receive electricity or running
water until she was seven. Since their nearest neighbors lived 25 miles
away, the family spent their days mostly in isolation. Her younger brother
and sister were not born until she herself was eight years old, leaving her
to spend many years as an only child. To compensate for the loneliness, she
befriended many of the ranch's cowboys and kept many pets, including a
bobcat. O'Connor read profusely in her early years and engaged in many ranch
activities. She learned to drive at age seven and could fire rifles and ride
horses proficiently by the time she turned eight.
The isolated ranch made formal education difficult so
O'Connor's parents sent her to live with her maternal grandmother in El
Paso. Sandra attended the Radford School, a private academy for girls, from
kindergarten through high school. She graduated with good marks at the age
of sixteen. O'Connor attributes much of her later success to her
grandmother's influence. She credits her grandmother's confidence in her
ability to succeed in any endeavor as her motivation for refusing to admit
defeat.
After high school, she earned a B.A. in economics (magna
cum laude) from Stanford University in 1950, and went on to receive an LL.B.
from Stanford Law School in 1952, where she graduated third in her class.
Her classmate, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, graduated first
in the class.
She served as Deputy County Attorney of San Mateo County,
California, from 1952 to 1953, and as a civilian attorney for the
Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany, from 1954 to 1957. From
1958 to 1960, she practiced law in Maryvale, Arizona, and served as
Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965 to 1969.
She was appointed to the Arizona State Senate in 1969, and
was subsequently reelected to two more terms. During her time in the State
Senate, 1969 to 1975, she was elected Senate Majority Leader in 1972, the
first woman to serve as a state senate majority leader in any state; served
as Chairman of the State, County, and Municipal Affairs Committee in 1972
and 1973; also served on the Legislative Council, on the Probate Code
Commission, and on the Arizona Advisory Council on Intergovernmental
Relations.
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 Governor Bruce Babbitt and served from 1979 to 1981.
President Ronald Reagan nominated her as an Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court and she took her seat September 25, 1981.
Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.
She has written several books including; "Lazy B: Growing
Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest (2002)", "The Majesty of the
Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice (2003)", and even a children's
book "Chico (2005)". A story based on her memories on the family's ranch
when she was six years old and of her horse, Chico.
Currently Justice O'Connor is serving as the twenty-third
Chancellor at the College of William and Mary. She is married to John Jay
O'Connor III, and the couple has three sons; Scott, Brian and Jay.
Justice O’Connor was the keynote speaker at the 1996
Sovereignty Symposium IX. She is returning this year to be honored and
presented with the Supreme Court Medal.