A look back at local, national and world events through the Deseret News archives.
On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor made history when she became the first woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor went on to be the court’s deciding voice for a quarter of a century.
O’Connor had already served in the three branches of the western states and was therefore ready for the position.
During his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan promised to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court of the United States. When Justice Potter Stewart retired in 1981, Reagan fulfilled that promise by nominating O’Connor, noting that she was a “person for all seasons.” The Senate unanimously confirmed her nomination on September 21, 1981, and she took her seat on the bench four days later.
According to historians, she disliked the label “swing vote.” O’Connor was often called that in the media because her pragmatic approach to rulings sometimes resulted in her vote being in line with the majority in 5-4 decisions. O’Connor wrote 676 opinions in her career, 301 of which were the opinion of the Court and touched on a wide range of issues.
“Being a member of the Court,” she once said, “is a bit like walking on fresh concrete. We look back and see our footprints in the opinions we have written, and they tend to harden after us.”
After retiring in 2006, she founded the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute in 2009, whose goal is to “advance civil discourse, civic engagement and civic education,” according to the institute’s website.
O’Connor is highly respected by many groups and was an influential speaker at many law schools, including BYU. She died in December 2023 at the age of 93.
Here are more stories from the Deseret News archives about O’Connor:
“Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman on the US Supreme Court, dies at age 93”
“Iconic Judge Sandra Day O’Connor was more than a trailblazer, she was a dear friend and mentor to these Utah lawyers.”
“Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy of religious freedom”
“Two US Supreme Court Justices on How to ‘Better Disagree'”
“O’Connor is the first woman to preside over a court”
“O’Connor retires”
“O’Connor breaks her silence about her 1988 mastectomy”
“Y. graduates are encouraged to donate generously”
