Legacy obituary: Sandra O'Connor Obituary (2026) - Broad Brook, CT - Journal Inquirer
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Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. A moderate conservative, she was considered a swing vote. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an Arizona state judg…
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politics · American lawyer, politician and judge (1930–2023) · judge · lawyer · politician · jurist · also Sandra Day O'Connor, Sandra O'Connor, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sandra D. O'Connor, Sandra Day, Sandra Day O’connor
Born 26 March 1930 · Died 1 December 2023 · Q11132
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Sandra Day O'Connor delivers the opinion of the Court in Wiggins v. Smith
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2026· 4 entries
Legacy obituary: Sandra O'Connor Obituary and Online Memorial (2026)
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Public attention spiked: 2,715 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.7× the usual 726, with 0 article edits.
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Public attention spiked: 3,648 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5× the usual 726, with 0 article edits.
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2023· 3 entries
O'Connor died in Phoenix, at the age of 93, due to complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness
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Died 2023-12-01.
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Awarded Women of the Year (2023).
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2022· 1 entry
The Institute launched Civics for Life, its multigenerational digital platform
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2019· 1 entry
Her former adobe residence in Arizona, curated by the O'Connor Institute, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
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2016· 2 entries
Her younger sister, Ann Day, was killed in a car accident in Tucson, Arizona, as a result of a collision with a drunk driver
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Snopes.com rated the claim “Sandra Day O'Connor said that Republicans were a "vile, petulant, hateful, passel of obstructionists."” False.
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2014· 1 entry
O'Connor appeared on the television show Jeopardy
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2009· 5 entries
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Barack Obama (2009).
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O'Connor appeared on the satirical television program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote the website
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And she became involved in raising awareness of the disease
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Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama
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O'Connor founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization now known as the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute
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2008· 4 entries
O'Connor published an introductory essay on a themed judicial accountability issue in the Denver University Law Review
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O'Connor and Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia, wrote an editorial in the Financial Times stating concerns about the threatened imprisonment of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
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Gave "Harry's Last Lecture on a Meaningful Life" in honor of the former Stanford Law professor who shaped her undergraduate and law careers
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O'Connor was named an inaugural Harry Rathbun Visiting Fellow by the Office for Religious Life at Stanford University
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2007· 1 entry
At a conference on her landmark opinion in Strickland v
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2006· 3 entries
O'Connor gave the commencement address at the William & Mary School of Law, where she said that judicial independence is "under serious attack at both the state and national level"
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Arizona State University named its law school the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in her honor
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O'Connor taught a course on the Supreme Court at the University of Arizona's James E
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2005· 6 entries
O'Connor announced her retirement, effective upon the confirmation of a successor
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O'Connor announced her intention to retire
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With Rehnquist and Stevens (who were senior to her) absent, she became the senior justice presiding over oral arguments in the case of Kelo v
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Career landmark: Chancellor of the College of William & Mary (2005–2012).
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Wrote a children's book, Chico: A True Story from the Childhood of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice, named for her favorite horse, which offered an autobiographical depiction of her childhood
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“Connor was the last living member of the Burger Court. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, and joined the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006. During her term on the Court, O”
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2003· 2 entries
O'Connor authored a majority Supreme Court opinion (Grutter v
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Wrote a book titled The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice (ISBN 0-375-50925-9)
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2000· 5 entries
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
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Awarded Margaret Brent Award (2000).
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Wrote in part the per curiam majority opinion in Bush v
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Speculated that the decision she reached in Bush v
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Because it "stirred up the public" and "gave the Court a less-than-perfect reputation"
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1995· 1 entry
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (1995).
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1993· 2 entries
Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second female Supreme Court justice
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In which the Court struck down an electoral districting plan designed to facilitate the election of two Black representatives out of 12 from North Carolina, a state that had not had any Black representative since Reconst
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1992· 1 entry
Was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in Planned Parenthood v
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1989· 1 entry
O'Connor stated during the deliberations over the Webster case that she would not overrule Roe
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1988· 1 entry
And she also had her appendix removed that year
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1985· 1 entry
Awarded Elizabeth Blackwell Award (1985).
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1981· 2 entries
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 replace the retiring Potter St
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Career landmark: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1981–2006).
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1980· 1 entry
In the belief that he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v
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1974· 2 entries
O'Connor was appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court, serving from 1975 to 1979 when she was elevated to the Arizona Court of Appeals
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O'Connor had opined against a measure to prohibit abortions in some Arizona hospitals
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1970· 2 entries
“s law banning abortion. However, she had cast a preliminary vote in the Arizona State Senate in 1970 in favor of a bill to repeal the state”
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In favor of a bill to repeal the state's criminal-abortion statute
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1969· 2 entries
The governor of Arizona appointed O'Connor to fill a vacancy in the Arizona Senate
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Career landmark: member of the State Senate of Arizona (1969–1975).
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1952· 2 entries
Six months after her graduation, O'Connor and Day married at her family's ranch
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O'Connor had difficulty finding a paying job as an attorney in a law firm because of her gender
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1950· 1 entry
Studied at Stanford University, Bachelor of Arts (1950).
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1930· 2 entries
In El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Harry Alfred Day, a rancher, and Ada Mae (Wilkey)
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Born 1930-03-26.
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