Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, to lie in repose
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The late Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a staunch voice of moderate conservatism for more than two decades, will lie to rest Monday in the court's Great Hall.
O'Connor, a native of Arizona, died on December 1 at the age of 93.
Her coffin will be carried up the steps in front of the court, beneath the iconic words engraved on the pediment, 'Equal Justice Under Law', and placed in the Great Hall of the court. C-SPAN will broadcast a private ceremony held in front of the courthouse. The venue is open to the public so people can pay their respects afterwards, from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The last justice to retire from the court was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice. After her death in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, mourners passed her casket outside the building, on the portico at the top of the stairs.
Funeral services for O'Connor are scheduled for Tuesday at the Washington National Cathedral, where President Joe Biden and Chief Justice John Roberts will speak.
O'Connor was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and subsequently confirmed by the Senate, ending 191 years of male exclusivity on the Supreme Court. The daughter of a farmer who was largely unknown on the national stage until her appointment, she received more letters in her first year than any member in the court's history and would be called the most powerful woman in the country.
She exerted significant influence on the nine-member court, typically favoring states in disputes with the federal government and often siding with police when they faced claims of violating people's rights. However, its influence is perhaps best seen in the court's rulings on abortion. She twice joined the majority in decisions that upheld and reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, the decision that stated that women have a constitutional right to abortion.
Thirty years after that decision, a more conservative court overturned Roe, and the opinion was written by the man who replaced it, Justice Samuel Alito.
Growing up riding horses, rounding up cattle and driving trucks and tractors on the family's sprawling Arizona ranch, O'Connor developed a tenacious, independent spirit.
She had graduated from Stanford Law School in 1952, but soon discovered that most major law firms at the time were not hiring women. A Los Angeles firm offered her a job as a secretary.
She built a career that included service as a member of the Arizona Legislature and a state judge before her appointment to the Supreme Court at age 51. When she first arrived, she didn't even have a place to go to the bathroom near the courtroom. . This was quickly corrected, but she remained the only woman at court until 1993.
She retired at age 75, citing her husband's battle with Alzheimer's disease as her primary reason for leaving the court. John O'Connor died three years later, in 2009.
After her retirement, O'Connor continued to serve as a judge on several federal courts of appeal, advocating for judicial independence and serving as a member of the Iraq Study Group. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
She regretted that no woman had been chosen to replace her, but experienced a record of four women now serving simultaneously on the Supreme Court.
She died in Phoenix from complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory disease. Her survivors include her three sons, Scott, Brian and Jay, six grandchildren and a brother.
The family has asked for donations to iCivics, the group she founded to promote citizenship education.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.