Justice Sandra Day O’Connor holds the great distinction of being the first woman justice to sit on the Supreme Court. She received her B.A. (with Great Distinction) and LL.B., Order of the Coif, from Stanford University. She was also part of the Board of Editors for Stanford Law Review. During her legal career, she served as Deputy County Attorney of San Mateo County, California from 1952–1953 and as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany from 1954–1957. From 1958–1960, she practiced law in Maryvale, Arizona, and served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965–1969.

She was appointed State Senator in Arizona in 1969 and was subsequently reelected to two two-year terms, serving in the Arizona State Senate from 1969 to 1975; Senate Majority Leader in 1972-75; served as Chairman of the State, County, and Municipal Affairs Committee in 1972 and 1973; also served on the Legislative Council, on the Probate Code Commission and on the Arizona Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations. In 1975 she was elected Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Bruce Babbitt. President Reagan nominated her as an Associate Justice the United States Supreme Court on July 7, 1981; she confirmed by the United States Senate on September 22, 1981 and took the oath of office on September 25, 1981. Justice O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.

Justice O’Connor’s many civic activities include: Member, Executive Board, ABA Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, 1990-present; member, Board of Trustees, Rockefeller Foundation, 2006-present; Chancellor, College of William and Mary, 2005-present; member, Advisory Board, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 2006-present; member, ABA Commission on Civic Education and Separation of Powers, 2005-present; member, Executive Committee, ABA Museum of Law, 2000-present; member, Advisory Commission, ABA Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress, 2002-present; member, Advisory Committee, American Society of International Law, Judicial, 2001-present; honorary chair, America’s 400th Anniversary: Jamestown 2007, 2006-present; co-chair, National Advisory Council, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, 2005-present; member, Selection Committee, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, 2005-present; member, Advisory Board, Stanford Center on Ethics, 2005-present. She also holds membership with following organizations: American Bar Association, State Bar of Arizona, State Bar of California, Maricopa County Bar Association, Arizona Judges’ Association, National Association of Women Judges, Arizona Women Lawyers’ Association.

Justice O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas. She married John Jay O’Connor III in 1952 and has three sons.