Sandra Day O'Connor: A farm girl who ascended to 'court royalty'
"He is perfect in all aspects, save for not being a woman."
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor expressed mixed feelings towards the nomination of the individual set to replace her on the US Supreme Court.
These feelings were characteristic of O'Connor, the first woman judge to serve on the country's highest court.
O'Connor felt a significant burden due to the anticipation surrounding her groundbreaking 1981 appointment, which lasted throughout her 26-year tenure.
The justice, who openly identifies as a "cowgirl from the Arizona desert", had to continually demonstrate her superiority over men and her allegiance to women, due to her conservative views.
O'Connor used her cunning and political savvy as a Republican activist and state senator to deftly maneuver through the turbulent realm of Supreme Court rulings.
O'Connor's philosophical beliefs were moderate, which frequently positioned her as the crucial determining vote in a court intensely split between conservative and liberal judges.
Throughout a significant portion of the 1980s and later, O'Connor played a pivotal role in a variety of hot-button issues. Her influential votes ranged from matters of abortion rights to the contested 2000 presidential race.
O'Connor, a champion for equal rights between sexes, was succeeded by the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, the infamous Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
O'Connor didn't have a lasting nickname or a politically motivated group of dedicated supporters. However, she still managed to leave her imprint in a manner that not many justices can accomplish.
For nearly twenty years, she wielded significant influence in the court, establishing herself as one of the most influential females nationwide, renowned in every aspect except in name.
"Justice O'Connor held a dominant position in the court for an extended period," Linda Hirshman, one of her biographers, shared with the BBC.
The farmer's girl
O'Connor, who was autonomous, industrious, and self-reliant, derived many of her key personality features from her solitary and occasionally stark childhood in the southwestern part of the country. She was born in El Paso, Texas in 1930.
O'Connor grew up on Lazy B, a massive cattle ranch spanning 198,000 acres across the arid landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico. Her childhood home was a modest farmhouse situated 14 kilometers (about nine miles) from the closest asphalt road. Her parents, Ada Mae Day and Harry Alfred Day, raised her there.
Her early years were tough, molded by the fluctuating fortunes of the family enterprise and the trials of living on a ranch. Acquiring skills like horse riding, truck driving, and using a .22-calibre rifle under her father's guidance were as integral to her formative years as book reading sessions with her mother.
O'Connor's official schooling took place while she was living with her grandmother in El Paso. At the age of 16, she decided to attend Stanford University to carry on her father's unrealized dream of studying there, which was set aside due to his responsibilities at the family ranch.
She had a successful stint at Stanford, flourishing both in her studies and love life. She achieved dual degrees in law and economics, and attracted the attention of numerous admirers. Biographer Evan Thomas estimates that she was proposed to four times while at Stanford. He asserts that one of these proposals was from the man who would later become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist.
The suggested plan was declined. After that, her peer from Stanford Law School, John Jay O'Connor, came into the picture, whom she wedded in 1952. On the surface, their resumes were on par with each other, as both were editors for the esteemed Stanford Law Review. However, in actuality, a significant disparity existed between them due to their gender.
'Legal companies wouldn't employ females'
"I wasn't offered any employment," O'Connor shared with the International Bar Association in 2011. "It was extremely disappointing since I had excelled in both my undergrad and law studies, while my male peers didn't face any issues."
In her initial employment, she accepted a position without pay or an office, serving a county attorney in San Mateo, California. These circumstances might seem laughable based on current norms, but O'Connor stayed determined and ultimately managed to secure a modest income.
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Can you explain what the US Supreme Court is and why it's significant?
O'Connor and her spouse were conscripted into the US military and sent to Germany. When they came back to the United States in 1957, they chose to make Maricopa County, Arizona their home. However, even at that time, gender discrimination was a barrier to O'Connor's preferred professional trajectory.
"Legal companies weren't employing female attorneys," stated O'Connor at the Aspen Ideas Festival in 2011. "Therefore, I had to devise a method to exercise law."
She managed to establish her own legal practice in a shopping mall, handling minor cases. This provided her with some real experience, but she quickly realized her focus needed to be elsewhere: at home with her three boys, Scott, Brian, and Jay.
The housewife becomes a legislator
After the birth of her second son, Brian, in 1960, O'Connor took a five-year hiatus from her legal career. This time is frequently depicted as O'Connor's "career break," but according to Scott, it was not like that at all.
"Her vitality was equivalent to that of 20 individuals," Scott conveyed to the BBC. "She wasn't merely lounging around in her house shoes, engrossed in daytime dramas at home."
In addition to her parenting duties, O'Connor maintained a number of different projects to occupy her time. She immersed herself in political activities with the Maricopa County Young Republicans, engaged in public health efforts at the Arizona State Hospital, and devoted time to charitable work with the Salvation Army.
O'Connor's visibility and network in Arizona's political sphere increased due to the surge of volunteer work. Consequently, opportunities began to present themselves.
In 1965, she secured a position as a deputy attorney general in Arizona. Her performance impressed Arizona Governor Jack Williams, who subsequently appointed her to fill an empty seat in the state senate.
She was re-elected two times, but her three sons didn't consider it as anything significant at that moment.
"Scott admitted that he and his siblings understood their mother's occupation was not the same as other mothers'. However, they didn't grasp how extraordinary that was during that time period."
There was an instance where O'Connor persuaded her senator colleagues to halt a law-making session so she could bake cookies and prepare lemonade for her children. Evidently, O'Connor had significant influence.
Her influence, supported by her networking skills and persistent determination, enabled her to overcome gender obstacles in her way. She made her first significant stride in gender equality in 1973, when she was chosen as the majority leader of Arizona's Senate. This was a groundbreaking achievement for a woman in the US.
She transitioned from politics to law a year later, securing a position as a county judge in 1975. This was followed by her appointment to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. Her ascension was auspiciously timed.
The president selects 'a woman for all times'
During his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan promised to nominate the first female Supreme Court Justice. Thus, when Reagan emerged victorious in the elections, O'Connor, who had a background as a ranch girl, lawyer, politician, and judge, was in a prime position to take up the next available seat on the court.
O'Connor enjoyed the backing of influential individuals, including her former love interest Justice Rehnquist, who discreetly advocated for her nomination.
President Reagan only needed a brief 15-minute conversation with O'Connor at the White House to make his decision. Captivated by her southwestern charm and astounded by her keen intelligence, Reagan identified O'Connor, a "universal woman", as his nominee in 1981.
Scott expressed that his mother's nomination felt "as if he was hit by a bolt of lightning".
"He found it incredulous," he expressed. His mother was also shocked. "I had no experience as a legal assistant there, never had the opportunity to argue a case in court," O'Connor shared with the International Bar Association.
The result of her Senate hearings, which happened to be the first televised ones, showed that her concerns were unnecessary. Both liberals and conservatives largely appreciated her nomination. Her unanimous confirmation vote of 99-0 demonstrated this.
Hirshman, the author of Sisters in Law, stated that O'Connor embodied a sort of cross-party agreement on the American venture and the way we should manage our own governance.
"She hailed from Arizona, a place known for its traditional American agreement. Her confirmation hearings were filled with overwhelming approval."
Upon the approval of O'Connor's nomination, the 191-year dominance of "the brethren" over the Supreme Court came to an end. A fresh era had begun.
A unifier who could be unexpectedly unconventional
O'Connor stood as a beacon of advancement for women, making her influence known. Yet, in terms of law, she didn't let her personal beliefs sway the court's decisions. Indeed, those who collaborated with her are uncertain if she even possessed a personal ideology.
"Eugene Volokh, a legal expert who served as a clerk for Day O'Connor in 1993, described her to the BBC as a justice who was practical. In her opinion, the legal system should function efficiently and the interpretation of laws and constitutional clauses should contribute to this. As a result, her decisions were sometimes hard to anticipate in certain circumstances."
Scott viewed his mother as a moderate who wasn't overly keen on challenging traditions. Typically, O'Connor avoided making drastic decisions, always keeping in mind the rights of people and states.
During the initial stages of her tenure, O'Connor was a pivotal figure in the conservative group on the court. However, as the court started leaning more towards the right with the induction of conservative justices like Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, and Clarence Thomas, O'Connor began to diverge more often.
She often aligned herself with the liberal justices when it came to issues of equality and civil rights. However, when examining her history, it is evident that she more frequently sided with the conservative group over the liberal faction in controversial 5-4 rulings.
A significant disagreement between O'Connor and the conservatives arose in 1992 during the contentious case of Planned Parenthood v Casey, which tackled abortion rights. O'Connor was part of a 5-4 majority that upheld Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in the US.
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In order to watch this video, JavaScript must be activated in your browser. The argument over abortion outlined in three minutes.
Critics of O'Connor were left baffled by the vote, as she had earlier voiced her personal disgust towards abortion. Although Roe v Wade was preserved, a fresh criterion was established for limiting abortions at the state level. States obtained increased flexibility to enforce rules unless they excessively troubled women pursuing abortion.
"A significant number of individuals in the pro-choice movement think that it might have been more beneficial if Roe v Wade had been directly overturned," stated Hirshman. "This would have allowed for a public vote on whether the US population truly desired to return to a time when women were forced to resort to unsafe abortions."
In 2022, her successor, the staunchly conservative Justice Samuel Alito, penned the majority judgement that ultimately reversed Roe v Wade.
A questionable heritage
Perhaps O'Connor's most controversial judgement was the Bush v Gore case in 2000.
In that particular year, George W Bush from the Republican party and Al Gore from the Democrat party engaged in a tightly fought presidential election. The outcome in Florida was so narrow that the state law demanded a second count. This recount led to legal disputes, culminating in a contentious ruling by the Supreme Court.
O'Connor sided with the 5-4 majority to stop any legal objections to the election outcomes, essentially securing Bush's position in the White House.
The perception was that the decision favored the Republicans, as O'Connor was rumored to be unhappy with the possibility of Gore's victory on the night of the election. She refuted these claims, but Democrats were furious, blaming O'Connor for partisan prejudice.
According to Hirshman, her reputation will always be marred by that decision.
O'Connor was plagued by this after stepping down from the court in 2006. Bush solidified a court with a conservative bias, which eventually unraveled some of her most significant achievements in the areas of abortion rights and campaign finance.
O'Connor was deeply upset by this, but as she stated in 2011, "life continues".
O'Connor embarked on another career journey, one colored by melancholy. She chose to retire at the age of 75, which is considered somewhat premature for a Supreme Court justice. Her decision was driven by her dedication to look after her spouse, who sadly passed away in 2009 after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer's disease.
O'Connor was heartbroken and later conveyed to her biographer, Mr. Thomas, that her retirement from the court was the most foolish decision she had ever made. Regardless, she immersed herself into a new professional path, which she considered her "second career".
"Upon her departure from the judiciary, during her 80s, she embarked on a mission to enlighten the youth of America on the fundamentals of civics," stated Scott. One of her programs, iCivics, leverages the power of gaming technology to impart knowledge to six million students annually about the functioning of the US government.
"Every member of the Supreme Court now emphasizes the significance of civics. My mother was the one who initiated that," stated Scott.
O'Connor continued to be involved in public affairs deep into her 80s, until she finally faced a hurdle she couldn't surmount.
A while back, physicians identified early signs of dementia in me, likely Alzheimer's disease," O'Connor revealed in 2018.
Even though the last stage of my life with dementia could be challenging, it hasn't lessened my thankfulness and profound admiration for the numerous blessings I've been given in my life.
Growing up as a cowgirl in the Arizona wastelands, it was beyond my wildest dreams to think that someday, I would be the first female judge on the US Supreme Court.
"A worthy jurist rests here." Historical records often commemorate those who were firsts, despite the nature of their impact. O'Connor's impact, however, surpasses her initial achievement, particularly in advancing gender equality, constitutional law, and public education. Her brother attributed her accomplishments to straightforward objectives, which were the foundation of everything.
"Her actions weren't dictated by a desire for fame or to be admired," Alan Day conveyed to The Arizona Republic newspaper. "She acted the way she did because she aimed to be a virtuous individual and contribute positively."
In fact, during her 1981 confirmation hearings, O'Connor was questioned about the kind of impact she would like to have.
"Oh, the gravestone inquiry," she responded. "My wish is for it to read, 'Rests here a fair adjudicator.'"
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