Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to ascend to the high court and its most influential jurist for much of her 24-year career, has died. The daughter of an Arizona cattle rancher, she made history the day she arrived at the Supreme Court in 1981. President Ronald Reagan had made a campaign promise in 1980 to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court when the first vacancy arose. At Stanford, Sandra Day had met and later married John O’Connor, the confident and witty son of a San Francisco physician. Sandra Day O’Connor relished the court work and was reluctant to quit.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 01, 2023 17:19 UTC