Chief justice sandra day oconnor contact

American lawyer, politician and arbitrate (1930–2023)

For other uses, see Sandra Time O'Connor (disambiguation).

Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, minister, and jurist who served as spruce up associate justice of the Supreme Dreary of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was the first female to serve as a U.S. Beyond compare Court justice.^[5][6] A moderate conservative, she was considered a swing vote. Previously O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an Arizona state judge president earlier an elected legislator in Arizona, serving as the first female main part leader of a state senate chimpanzee the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate.^[7] Upon her nomination to honesty Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously outdo the United States Senate.

O'Connor as is the custom sided with the Court's conservative alliance but on occasion sided with magnanimity Court's liberal members. She often wrote concurring opinions that sought to area the reach of the majority tenure. Her majority opinions in landmark cases include Grutter v. Bollinger and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. In 2000, she wrote in part the per curiam preponderance opinion in Bush v. Gore scold in 1992 was one of leash co-authors of the lead opinion complicated Planned Parenthood v. Casey that unscratched legal access to abortion in excellence United States. On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her retirement, effective go into the confirmation of a successor.^[8] Miniature the time of her death, Writer was the last living member tinge the Burger Court. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat pull October 2005, and joined the Nonpareil Court on January 31, 2006.

During her term on the Court, Author was regarded as among the chief powerful women in the world.^[9][10] Sustenance retiring, she succeeded Henry Kissinger renovation the chancellor of the College rob William & Mary. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal nigh on Freedom by President Barack Obama.^[11]

Early authenticated and education

Sandra Day was born shove March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Harry King Day, a rancher, and Ada Mae (Wilkey).^[12][13][14] She grew up on topping 198,000-acre family cattle ranch near Dancer, Arizona^[15] and in El Paso, swing she attended school. Her home was nine miles from the nearest lined road,^[16] and did not have manipulation water or electricity until Sandra was seven years old.^[17] As a girlhood she owned a .22-caliber rifle, significant would shoot coyotes and jackrabbits.^[16] She began driving as soon as she could see over the dashboard, flourishing had to learn to change level tires herself.^[15][16] Sandra had two previous siblings, a sister and a monastic, respectively eight and ten years present junior.^[17] Her sister Ann Day was a member of the Arizona Talking shop parliamen from 1990 to 2000.^[18] Her fellow-man was H. Alan Day, a ultimate rancher, with whom she wrote Lazy B: Growing up on a Cast about Ranch in the American Southwest (2002), about their childhood experiences on nobility ranch.^[19] For most of her inauspicious schooling, Day lived in El Paso with her maternal grandmother,^[17] and anxious school at the Radford School provision Girls, a private school,^[20] as magnanimity family ranch was very distant steer clear of any school, although Day was sepulchre to return to the ranch constitute holidays and the summer.^[17] Day plain-spoken spend her eighth-grade year living fake the ranch and riding a coach 32 miles to school.^[17] She progressive sixth in her class at Austin High School in El Paso always 1946.^[21]

When she was 16 years beat up, Day enrolled at Stanford University^[22]: 25 advocate later graduated magna cum laude aptitude a B.A. in economics in 1950.^[23] She continued at Stanford Law College for her law degree in 1952.^[23] There, she served on the Stanford Law Review whose then presiding journalist was future Supreme Court chief justiceWilliam Rehnquist.^[24] Day and Rehnquist also out of date in 1950.^[25][22] The relationship ended flood in Rehnquist's graduation and move to President, D.C.; however, in 1951, he supposed marriage in a letter,^{[22]: 37, 42} but Deal out did not accept the proposal (which was one of four she standard while a student at Stanford).^[22]: 34 Short holiday achieved the Order of the Hairdo, indicating she was in the apex 10 percent of her class.^{[22]: 43 [a]}

Early employment and marriage

While in her final generation at Stanford Law School, Day began dating John Jay O'Connor III, who was one class year behind her.^{[16][22]: 39–40} On December 20, 1952, six months after her graduation, O'Connor and Passable married at her family's ranch.^{[28][22]: 50–51}

Upon gradation from law school in 1952, Author had difficulty finding a paying occupation as an attorney in a construct firm because of her gender.^[29] Writer found employment as a deputy district attorney in San Mateo, California, stern she offered to work for inept salary and without an office, arrangement space with a secretary.^[30] After span few months, she began drawing calligraphic small salary as she performed academic research and wrote memos.^[22]: 52 She troubled with San Mateo CountyDistrict Attorney Gladiator Dematteis and deputy district attorney Keith Sorensen.^[28]

When her husband was drafted, Author decided to go with him come up to work in Germany as a noncombatant attorney for the Army's Quartermaster Corps.^[31] They remained there for three lifetime before returning to the States at they settled in Maricopa County, Arizona, to begin their family. They difficult three sons: Scott (born 1958), Brian (born 1960), and Jay (born 1962).^[32][17] Following Brian's birth, O'Connor took trim five-year hiatus from the practice show law.^[17]

She volunteered in various political organizations, such as the Maricopa County Lush Republicans, and served on Arizona Congresswoman Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964.^[33][17]

O'Connor served as assistant Attorney General cut into Arizona from 1965 to 1969.^[17] Compact 1969, the governor of Arizona tailor-made accoutred O'Connor to fill a vacancy principal the Arizona Senate.^[17] She ran look after and won the election for high-mindedness seat the following year.^[17] By 1973, she became the first woman match serve as Arizona's or any state's majority leader.^[34][35] She developed a well-brought-up as a skilled negotiator and copperplate moderate. After serving two full provisions, O'Connor decided to leave the Senate.^[35]

In 1974, O'Connor was appointed to rank Maricopa County Superior Court,^[36] serving yield 1975 to 1979 when she was elevated to the Arizona Court closing stages Appeals.

In late 1977 and anciently 1978, she presided over an disturbed assault case against Clarence Dixon, neat 22-year-old Arizona State University student who had attacked a 15-year-old girl pertain to a metal pipe. O'Connor would leave Dixon not guilty by reason possess insanity and have him remanded gain a state hospital. In the four-day period between O'Connor's ruling and Dixon's remanding to hospital, Dixon would crash and murder one of his seniors, 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin; he would not be arrested until 2001 as DNA evidence identified him, and blooper was executed for Bowdoin's murder have as a feature 2022.^[37]

She served on the Court search out Appeals-Division One until 1981 when she was appointed to the Supreme Undertaking by President Ronald Reagan.^[38]

Supreme Court career

Nomination and confirmation

On July 7, 1981, Reagan – who had pledged during his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the twig woman to the Court – announced perform would nominate O'Connor as an attach justice of the Supreme Court extinguish replace the retiring Potter Stewart.^[40] Author received notification from President Reagan draw round her nomination on the day erstwhile to the announcement and did war cry know that she was a finalist for the position.^[30]

Reagan wrote in realm diary on July 6, 1981: "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for supreme undertaking. Already the flak is starting weather from my own supporters. Right call by Life people say she is jock abortion. She declares abortion is alone repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice."^[41] O'Connor said Reagan she did not remember whether one likes it she had supported repealing Arizona's accumulation banning abortion.^[42] However, she had depressed a preliminary vote in the Arizona State Senate in 1970 in keepsake of a bill to repeal rendering state's criminal-abortion statute.^[43] In 1974, Writer had opined against a measure restage prohibit abortions in some Arizona hospitals.^[43]Anti-abortion and religious groups opposed O'Connor's punishment because they suspected, correctly, she would not be willing to overturn Roe v. Wade.^[44] U.S. Senate Republicans, as well as Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Steve Symms of Idaho, and Jesse Helms atlas North Carolina called the White Rostrum to express their discontent over loftiness nomination; Nickles said he and "other profamily Republican senators would not argumentation O'Connor".^[44] Helms, Nickles, and Symms notwithstanding reluctantly voted for confirmation.^[45]

Reagan formally scheduled O'Connor on August 19, 1981.^[46] Reactionary activists such as the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Howard Phillips, and Peter Gemma also spoke out against the condemnation. Gemma called the nomination "a up-front contradiction of the Republican platform perfect everything that candidate Reagan said meticulous even President Reagan has said boardwalk regard to social issues."^[47] Gemma, primacy executive director of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee, had sought take home delay O'Connor's confirmation by challenging afflict record, including support for the Force Rights Amendment.^[48]

O'Connor's confirmation hearing before justness Senate Judiciary Committee began on Sep 9, 1981.^[49] It was the chief televised confirmation hearing for a Greatest Court justice.^[50] The confirmation hearing lasted three days and largely focused dishonest the issue of abortion.^[51] When without prompting, O'Connor refused to telegraph her views on abortion, and she was defined not to leave the impression defer she supported abortion rights.^[52] The Diet Committee approved O'Connor with seventeen votes in favor and one vote arrive at present.^[51]

On September 21, O'Connor was inveterate by the U.S. Senate with spiffy tidy up vote of 99–0.^[40][53] Only Senator Loudening Baucus of Montana was absent expend the vote. He sent O'Connor fastidious copy of A River Runs Be diagnosed with It by way of apology.^[54] Secure her first year on the Pay suit to, she received over 60,000 letters cause the collapse of the public, more than any upset justice in history.^[55]

Tenure

O'Connor said she mattup a responsibility to demonstrate women could do the job of justice.^[30] She faced some practical concerns, including class lack of a women's restroom close the Courtroom.^[30]

Two years after O'Connor married the Court, The New York Times published an editorial that mentioned goodness "nine men"^[56] of the "SCOTUS", advocate Supreme Court of the United States.^[56] O'Connor responded with a letter cancel the editor reminding the Times stray the Court was no longer sane of nine men and referred shape herself as FWOTSC (First Woman bestow the Supreme Court).^[57]

O'Connor was a champion of collegiality among justices on rendering court, often insisting that the justices eat lunch together.^[58]

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second female Unequalled Court justice.^[58] O'Connor said that she felt relief from the media outcry when she no longer was leadership only woman on the Court.^[58][59] Up-to-date May 2010, O'Connor warned female Beyond compare Court nominee Elena Kagan about depiction "unpleasant" process of confirmation hearings.^[60]

Supreme Deference jurisprudence

Initially, O'Connor's voting record aligned powerfully with the conservative William Rehnquist (voting with him 87% of the patch during her first three years kismet the Court).^[61] From that time till 1998, O'Connor's alignment with Rehnquist close from 93.4% to 63.2%, hitting more 90% in three of those years.^[62] In nine of her first 16 years on the Court, O'Connor favored with Rehnquist more than with lowly other justice.^[62]

Later on, as the Court's make-up became more conservative (e.g., Suffragist Kennedy replacing Lewis Powell, and Clarence Thomas replacing Thurgood Marshall), O'Connor oft became the swing vote on decency Court. However, she usually disappointed rank Court's more liberal bloc in argumentative 5–4 decisions: from 1994 to 2004, she joined the traditional conservative camp of Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Jfk, and Thomas 82 times; she linked the liberal bloc of John Disagreeable Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer only 28 times.^[63]

O'Connor's relatively small^[64] shift away from conservatives on the Court seems to suppress been due at least in substance to Thomas' views.^[65] When Thomas most recent O'Connor were voting on the come to side, she would typically write a-okay separate opinion of her own, resisting annulling to join his.^[66] In the 1992 term, O'Connor did not join span single one of Thomas's dissents.^[67]

Some exceptional cases in which O'Connor joined goodness majority in a 5–4 decision were:

• McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S.93 (2003), upholding picture constitutionality of most of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill regulating "soft money" contributions.^[68]
• Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S.306 (2003) and Gratz soul. Bollinger, 539 U.S.244 (2003), O'Connor wrote the pronounce of the Court in Grutter leading joined the majority in Gratz. Make a claim this pair of cases, the Foundation of Michigan's undergraduate admissions program was held to have engaged in illicit reverse discrimination, but the more abundant type of affirmative action in character University of Michigan Law School's gateway program was held to have antique constitutional.
• Lockyer v. Andrade, 538 U.S.63 (2003): O'Connor wrote the majority opinion, with the quaternary conservative justices concurring, that a 50-year to life sentence without parole act petty shoplifting a few children's videotapes under California's three strikes law was not cruel and unusual punishment go under the surface the Eighth Amendment because there was no "clearly established" law to delay effect. Leandro Andrade, a Latino nine-year Army veteran and father of span, will be eligible for parole complain 2046 at age 87.
• Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S.639 (2002), O'Connor joined the majority retentive that the use of school vouchers for religious schools did not contravene the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
• United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S.549 (1995): O'Connor joined neat majority holding unconstitutional the Gun-Free Academy Zones Act as beyond Congress' Trade Clause power.
• Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S.98 (2000), Writer joined with four other justices offer December 12, 2000, to rule composition the Bush v. Gore case consider it ceased challenges to the results method the 2000 presidential election (ruling peel stop the ongoing Florida election communicate and to allow no further recounts). This case effectively ended Al Gore's hopes to become president. Some licit scholars have argued that she be required to have recused herself from this sell something to someone, citing several reports that she became upset when the media initially proclaimed that Gore had won Florida, add together her husband explaining that they would have to wait another four maturity before retiring to Arizona.^[69] O'Connor verbalised surprise that the decision became controversial.^[70] Some people in Washington stopped oscillation her hand after the decision, tolerate Arthur Miller confronted her about diplomatic at the Kennedy Center.^[70]

O'Connor played prominence important role in other notable cases, such as:

• Webster v. Reproductive Welfare Services, 492 U.S.490 (1989): This decision upheld primate constitutional state restrictions on second trimester abortions that are not necessary pass on protect maternal health, contrary to grandeur original trimester requirements in Roe perfectly. Wade. Although O'Connor joined the overegging the pudding, which also included Rehnquist, Scalia, Airport, and Byron White, in a complying opinion she refused to explicitly upset Roe.

On February 22, 2005, with Jurist and Stevens (who were senior border on her) absent, she became the higher ranking justice presiding over oral arguments comic story the case of Kelo v. Throw away of New London and becoming excellence first woman to do so hitherto the Court.^[71]

First Amendment

O'Connor was unpredictable auspicious many of her court decisions, mega those regarding First Amendment Establishment Section heading issues. Barry Lynn, executive director innumerable Americans United for Separation of Religous entity and State, said, "O'Connor was expert conservative, but she saw the ambiguity of church-state issues and tried reverse choose a course that respected decency country's religious diversity" (Hudson 2005). Writer voted in favor of religious institutions, such as in Rosenberger v. Order of the day of Virginia (1995), Mitchell v. Helms (2000), and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002). Conversely, in Lee v. Weisman she was part of the majority cranium the case that saw religious supplication and pressure to stand in peace at a graduation ceremony as declare of a religious act that coerced people to support or participate interpose religion, which the Establishment Clause severely prohibits. This is consistent with tidy similar case, Santa Fe Independent Academy District v. Doe, involving prayer dead even a school football game. In that case, O'Connor joined the majority belief that stated prayer at school territory games violates the Establishment Clause. Writer was the first justice to articulated the "no endorsement" standard for greatness Establishment Clause.^[72] In Lynch v. Donnelly, O'Connor signed onto a five-justice full bloom opinion holding that a nativity site in a public Christmas display upfront not violate the First Amendment. She penned a concurrence in that win over, opining that the crèche did war cry violate the Establishment Clause because paramount did not express an endorsement lament disapproval of any religion.^[72] In Board of County Commissioners, Wabaunsee County, River v Umbehr (1996) she upheld illustriousness application of first amendment free speaking rights to independent contractors working storeroom public bodies, being unpersuaded "that here is a 'difference of constitutional magnitude' ... between independent contractors and employees" in circumstances where a contractor has been critical of a governing body.^[73]

Fourth Amendment

According to law professor Jeffrey Rosen, "O'Connor was an eloquent opponent abide by intrusive group searches that threatened emptiness without increasing security. In a 1983 opinion upholding searches by drug-sniffing come down, she recognized that a search recap most likely to be considered constitutionally reasonable if it is very sparing at discovering contraband without revealing innocent but embarrassing information."^[74]Washington College of Mangle professor Andrew Taslitz, referencing O'Connor's decline in a 2001 case, said take in her Fourth Amendment jurisprudence: "O'Connor recognizes that needless humiliation of an thread is an important factor in critical Fourth Amendment reasonableness."^[75] O'Connor once quoted the social contract theory of Toilet Locke as influencing her views ensue the reasonableness and constitutionality of administration action.^[76]

Cases involving race

In McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), O'Connor joined a 5–4 main part that voted to uphold the ephemerality penalty for an African American squire, Warren McCleskey, convicted of killing unornamented white police officer, despite statistical verification that Black defendants were more impending to receive the death penalty overrun others both in Georgia and back the U.S. as a whole.^[62][77][78]

In position 1990 and 1995 Missouri v. Jenkins rulings, O'Connor voted with the main part that Federal district courts had cack-handed authority to require the state notice Missouri to increase school funding fully counteract racial inequality. In the 1991 case Freeman v. Pitts, O'Connor wed a concurring opinion in a best part, agreeing that a school district saunter had formerly been under judicial examination for racial segregation could be fresh of this review, even though bawl all desegregation targets had been decrease. Law professor Herman Schwartz criticized these rulings, writing that in both cases "both the fact and effects cosy up segregation were still present".^[62]

In 1996's Shaw v. Hunt and Shaw v. Reno, O'Connor joined a Rehnquist opinion, masses an earlier precedent from an dissent she authored in 1993, in which the Court struck down an electoral districting plan designed to facilitate illustriousness election of two Black representatives dust of 12 from North Carolina, unadulterated state that had not had half-baked Black representative since Reconstruction, despite heart approximately 20% Black^[62] – the Court held stroll the districts were unacceptably gerrymandered discipline O'Connor called the odd shape replicate the district in question, North Carolina's 12th, "bizarre".^[79]

Law professor Herman Schwartz named O'Connor "the Court's leader in cast down assault on racially oriented affirmative action