Sandra Day O’Connor

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was asked how she wanted to be remembered on her tombstone at her 1981 Senate confirmation hearing. “Here lies a good judge,” she replied. 

The first woman to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court did not want to be aligned with or defined by women’s issues. The last former politician to serve on the court — O’Connor had been the majority leader of the Arizona state Senate — instead became a pivotal swing vote.

“In cases on subjects like affirmative action, religious freedom and criminal rights, she carved out the middle ground and cast the decisive fifth vote. … So, she didn’t just become the first woman to join the all-boys club, she pulled up her chair in the center and was not afraid to wield tremendous power,” said Clare Cushman, from the Supreme Court Historical Society.

O’Connor’s nomination was controversial among conservatives who wanted a justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

On the court, O’Connor developed an “undue burden” standard, which framed banning abortion as sexual discrimination. She wrote the plurality opinion along with Justices Anthony Kennedy and David Souter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a pivotal 1992 decision that preserved Roe.

After her retirement, O’Connor served as chancellor of the College of William & Mary, a member of the Iraq Study Group and helped raise awareness of Alzheimer’s. O’Connor retired from public life in 2018.

— Alex Gangitano