U.S. General Services Administration
Women of Justice: Sandra Day O'Connor
This is part two of a four part series celebrating Women's History Month
Post filed in: Buildings
Sandra Day O’Connor took her oath of office as the first woman Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on September 25, 1981. Born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, her early years were spent on the family cattle ranch. She received her undergraduate degree and law degrees from Stanford University in 1950 and 1952, respectively.
As a law student, she was honored with membership in the Order of the Coif and served on the Board of Editors of the Stanford Law Review. Justice O’Connor has held several legal, legislative, and judicial offices. She was Deputy County Attorney for San Mateo County, California from 1952 to 1953. She was a civilian attorney for the U.S. Army in Frankfurt, Germany from 1954 to 1957. She was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona from 1965 to 1969. From 1969 through 1975, she was a State Senator, and in 1972, was the first woman in any state elected to be State Senate Majority Leader. She also served on the Probate Code Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. In 1975 she was elected judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix Arizona. Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed her to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979, and in 1981 President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the Supreme Court.
Justice O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 in recognition of her lifetime accomplishments.
Justice O’Connor’s civic activities include being a member of the National Board of the Smithsonian Associates, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Heard Museum, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Arizona Academy. She has served on many state and local law-related commissions and committees. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of California, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Arizona Women Lawyer’s Association.
The Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse, managed by GSA, is located in Phoenix, Arizona. Completed in 2000, the steel-and-glass building designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP makes impressive use of natural daylight.
Learn more about the Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona.
Women of Justice series:
- Women of Justice: Margaret Chase Smith
- Women of Justice: Sandra Day O’Connor
- Women of Justice: Judith N. Keep
- Women of Justice: Diana E. Murphy