O’Connor’s legal decisions were often the swing vote in divisive cases. In July 1981, O’Connor became the first female justice in the more-than-190-year history of the Supreme Court. She was elected to the Maricopa County Superior Court in 1974, and appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979, which positioned O'Connor for her historic appointment. The milestones began to pile on for O’Connor when she became the first woman majority leader in any state senate in the United States. Sandra Day O’Connor speaks with the Taft Institute, likely at Arizona State University, circa 1974. "If you were a man, you could,” she replied.Īrizona Sen. "If you were a man, I'd punch you in the nose," he barked. drunk." One day O'Connor called him out on it.
Thomas described him as "a drunk-by-10 a.m. Tom Goodwin was the chairman of the Arizona House Appropriations Committee. Raised among cowboys, she dealt with it by just walking away, according to Evan Thomas’ biography, " First: Sandra Day O'Connor." But sometimes she spoke up. In 1970, the state Legislature was very male and very rough. Four years later, she made state headlines when she was appointed to the Arizona Senate. But she kept her nose to the grindstone and became the assistant attorney general for Arizona in 1965. She completed law school in just two years, graduating third in her class.Īttitudes toward women in law proved a barrier, and the imminently qualified Sandra Day O’Connor struggled to find a job.
During that period, O'Connor's interest in the law was sparked from a family legal dispute over the ranch.Īt 16, she was admitted to Stanford University and later was admitted to Stanford Law in 1950. Later, she attended the Radford School for Girls in El Paso and graduated high school two years early. She learned to read by the time she was 4. A typical ranch kid, she branded calves with cowboys, rode horses everywhere, drove a pickup and was a crack shot with a. O'Connor, now 91, grew up on a remote ranch near Duncan, Arizona.
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