July 7, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first woman appointed to U.S. Supreme Court. The daughter of Arizona ranch owners, Sandra Day was born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas and educated by a mother and grandmother who let her know they had great expectations of her. She graduated from Stanford University in economics, and by 1952 was a newlywed with a Stanford law degree; she had married fellow law student John Jay O’Connor III. Her initial job search met with considerable resistance from private firms, but Day finally landed work as a deputy county attorney in California. Her career soon expanded from law to politics as a Republican and then a judge. In 1979 she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. Then on July 7, 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominated her for the Supreme Court. When Day O’Conner took the oath of office on September 26, 1981, she became the first woman judge at the top court. A moderate Republican, she often served as the swing judge on a politically divided bench. She announced her intention to retire from the top court in July 2005 once a new judge was confirmed. On January 31, 2006 Justice Samuel Alito received the confirmation and O’Connor officially retired. After her announcement to retire but before her actual retirement, O’Connor accepted the role of chancellor of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She took over the mostly ceremonial post from Henry Kissinger, and is part of a long line of distinguished chancellors, including former President George Washington, former Chief Justice Warren Burger and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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