12/1/23 - Sandra Day O'Connor, America's First Female Supreme Court Justice, Dies

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has passed away at the age of 93.

-Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and emerged as the swing vote on some of the court's biggest cases.

She died of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness.

O'Connor announced in 2018 that she was withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with dementia.

She was nominated by then - President Reagan in 1981 and became the first woman to serve on the nation's highest bench. 

O'Connor at times sides with the liberal wing and guided many of the court's consequential cases.

She wrote the court's landmark decision upholding affirmative action in college admissions.

Originally she personally opposed abortion but wrote majority opinions upholding the constitutional right to the procedure. 

In 2000, O’Connor was part of the 5-4 majority that effectively resolved the disputed 2000 presidential election in favor of Bush, over Democrat Al Gore.

O’Connor was regarded with great fondness by many of her colleagues. When she retired, Justice Clarence Thomas, a consistent conservative, called her “an outstanding colleague, civil in dissent and gracious when in the majority.”