![]() She wrote the Court’s majority opinion in a tobacco advertising decision, Lorillard Tobacco Co. O’Connor delivered many of the Court’s majority or plurality opinions in a variety of First Amendment contexts, sometimes favoring and sometimes disfavoring First Amendment claims. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) O'Connor delivered many First Amendment opinions 15, 1981, on her way to meet newsmen to make a statement on the confirmation vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier that day, to recommend to the full Senate that she be named to the high court. Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O'Connor ducks under a potted plant in the lobby of a Washington apartment building, Sept. Smith (1990), she warned that the Court had gone too far in reducing the level of free exercise protection, a position she reaffirmed in her dissent in City of Boerne v. In her concurring opinion in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Donnelly (1984), she proposed the endorsement test as a “clarification of our Establishment Clause jurisprudence.” As she explained, endorsement of a religious belief “sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.” The endorsement test became widely used by the Court in cases involving public religious displays or other expressive acts. In a concurring opinion in a creche display case, Lynch v. In many of her opinions O’Connor showed a concern for religious liberty. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced O’Connor as his nominee for the Supreme Court, fulfilling a campaign promise to nominate a woman. Five years later, the governor appointed her to the Arizona Court of Appeals. In 1974, she was elected to a trial court position in Maricopa County. In 1965, she became an assistant attorney general, and in 1969, she was appointed to the Arizona State Senate to replace a departing member. She married John O’Connor and lived in Germany for a few years while her husband fulfilled his service obligations.Īfter returning to Maricopa County, Arizona, Sandra O’Connor entered local politics. She became a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California, in 1952. The only job offer she received was a position as a legal secretary. Graduating from high school at age sixteen, she earned undergraduate and law degrees at Stanford University.Įven though she finished third in law school, O’Connor had difficulty finding a job because of gender discrimination. O'Connor involved in Arizona politics and lawīorn in El Paso, Texas, O’Connor spent much of her childhood at the Lazy B Ranch in Arizona. In First Amendment law, she is best known for her opinions in the area of religious liberty. She was often a key swing vote during her later years on the bench, causing some observers to label the Court during this period the O’Connor Court. Sandra Day O’Connor (1930– ) was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, where she served from 1981 to 2006. ![]() It was the start of a long career that culminated in her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1981, and she gained a reputation for being a tough judge.Sandra Day O’Connor (Photo courtesy Library of Congress, public domain) She would later become the first woman in the nation to become a Senate majority leader in a legislature.Ĭhapter 4: Rise from a GOP activist to an Arizona lawmaker A tough and demanding judge - but fairĪfter her time in the Legislature, O'Connor ran for Maricopa County Superior Court judge and won. When she returned, she quickly rose to prominence with an appointment to the Arizona Senate. ![]() O'Connor returned to work as an assistant state attorney general for Arizona in 1965, after taking a break from her career to raise her family. She had an especially difficult time finding a job after graduating because so many law firms wouldn't interview or hire her because she was a woman.Ĭhapter 3: Breaking barriers as a young lawyer Rise from Republican activist to Arizona lawmaker O'Connor applied to Stanford at 16, and only continued to break barriers from there - in her studies, her life and her early legal career. Sandra Day O'Connor graduated high school at 16 and attended Stanford. ![]()
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