SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR

Sandra Day O'Connor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court and the first woman appointed to that high rank, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in July, 1981, and took the oath of office in September.
Born in El Paso, Texas, and raised on a family ranch near Duncan, Arizona, she attended the Radford School for Girls; public school in Lordsburg, New Mexico; and Austin (Texas) High School, from which she graduated at age 16. At Stanford University, she received the bachelor's degree in economics magna cum laude in 1950. Upon earning the LL.B. degree two years later, she was ranked third in a 102-member law-school class headed by William H. Rehnquist, a Chief Justice of the United States. She earned membership in the prestigious Order of the Coif and on the editorial board of the Stanford Law Review, where she met John Jay O'Connor III.
She became a deputy county attorney in San Mateo County, California, then went on to work as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center in Frankfurt, Germany, through 1957. Her private practice brought her to Maryvale, Arizona, in 1958. While raising three sons, O'Connor was named to the Governor's Committee on Marriage and Family and became involved in Republican political activities.
In 1965, she became assistant attorney general in Arizona; she was appointed a state senator in 1969 and ran successfully for two more two-year terms. As a legislator, O'Connor championed causes where the rights of women were at stake. She worked for revision of Arizona statutes that discriminated against women by restricting their work hours, and she created legislation giving women equal responsibility in managing property jointly held with their spouses.
O'Connor favored the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and worked to make contraceptive information easier to obtain. Respected by state senate colleagues for her meticulous diligence, she was named majority leader in 1972, the first woman to hold the position.
Elected judge of Maricopa County Superior Court in 1974, O'Connor was not known for leniency but showed true concern for conditions at prison facilities where she sent convicted men and women. In 1979, Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed her to the Arizona Court of Appeals, where she served until 1981.
When he nominated her to the Supreme Court that year, President Reagan described O'Connor as " 'a person for all seasons,' possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity, and devotion to the public good that have characterized the 101 'brethren' who have preceded her."
BLACKWELL RECIPIENTS
May 16, 2021
Librarian of Congress Carla HaydenFebruary 3, 2021
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgJanuary 22, 2015
Dr. Janet L. YellenNovember 10, 2013
The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jefferts SchoriOctober 27, 2011
Eunice Kennedy Shriver-
April 23, 2009
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand -
April 24, 2008
Dr. Wangari Maathai Sc.D.'94, P '94, P '96 -
April 27, 2007
Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer '64, Sc.D. '94 -
September 7, 2004
Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris September 9, 2003
Loretta C. FordSeptember 4, 2001
Madeleine K. AlbrightMay 15, 1998
Billie Jean KingFebruary 10, 1996
Wilma MankillerSeptember 23, 1993
Barbara JordanSeptember 27, 1991
Margaret Chase SmithFebruary 22, 1991
Dr. Antonia C. NovelloFebruary 19, 1988
Barbara Aronstein BlackOctober 9, 1985
Cicely SaundersMarch 8, 1985
Sandra Day O’ConnorFebruary 11, 1984
Hannah Holborn GrayFebruary 26, 1982
Agnes George de MilleFebruary 15, 1980
Mary Douglas LeakeySeptember 30, 1977
Mary S. CalderoneOctober 3, 1975
Antonia BricoJanurary 23, 1974
Frances Keller HardingMay 28, 1973
Judith Graham PoolJune 8, 1972
Marian AndersonApril 10, 1972
Mary LaskerJune 13, 1971
Mina ReesJune 14, 1970
Helen Brooke TaussigJune 15, 1969
Georgiana SibleyJune 16, 1968
Constance Baker MotleySeptember 8, 1967
Catharine MacfarlaneJuly 10, 1966
Fe del MundoJune 13, 1965
Annette LeMeitour-KaplunJune 14, 1964
Margaret MeadJune 9, 1963
Marty MannJune 10, 1962
Frances PerkinsJune 18,1961
Leona BaumgartnerJune 12, 1960
Miki SawadaJune 14, 1959
Elisabeth Luce MooreSeptember 27, 1958
Gwendolyn Grant Mellon