[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 174 (Friday, October 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1463-E1464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PRAISING SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, THE FIRST FEMALE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 26, 2018

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and pay tribute to 
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice 
of the United States Supreme Court.
  Among the 20th century trailblazers, Sandra Day O'Connor ranks among 
the greatest leaders.
  It is a privilege to honor to this legal giant as we reflect on her 
career and commemorate her legacy as a path maker for women.
  On October 23, 2018, Justice O'Connor courageously announced that she 
is suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease and is retreating 
from public life.
  Born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, Sandra Day spent part of 
her youth on her family's Arizona ranch.
  Her family instilled in her a love of education, but schooling 
options near the ranch were limited for a young woman so her parents 
sent her to live with her grandmother in El Paso where she excelled at 
the Radford School for Girls and graduated high school two years early.
  After graduating from high school in 1946 and despite the probability 
that she might not be accepted because she was a woman, Sandra Day was 
accepted to Stanford University.
  Sandra Day graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in economics 
and was admitted to Stanford Law School where she was an editor of the 
Stanford Law Review.
  Sandra Day graduated at the top of her law school class, finishing 
third in a class of 102 students, which included William Rehnquist whom 
she would later join as a colleague on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  While a law student at Stanford, Sandra Day met her future husband, 
John Jay O'Connor III and the two were married shortly after 
graduation.
  That union lasted for 57 years and produced 3 wonderful children: 
Scott O'Connor, Jay O'Connor, and Brian O'Connor.
  After graduating from law school, Sandra Day O'Connor busily went 
about applying to law firms in San Francisco and Los Angeles,

[[Page E1464]]

but because of the sexism against women, could not get a paying job as 
a lawyer.
  After turning down a paid position as a legal secretary, Sandra Day 
O'Connor began her legal career working as an unpaid attorney for the 
San Mateo County Attorney's Office, where quickly she proved her merit 
and eventually was promoted to Deputy County Attorney.
  In 1954, Sandra Day O'Connor left California to work in Frankfurt, 
Germany as a civilian attorney for the Quartermaster Masker Center, a 
site abroad for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps.
  In 1957, she returned to the United States, settled in Arizona with 
her husband, and started a private practice with another attorney.
  Eight years later, she began working as the Assistant Attorney 
General of Arizona.
  In 1969, Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Arizona State 
Senate to fill a vacated seat and was elected to that seat in her own 
right in 1970.
  Sandra Day O'Connor was reelected twice and was chosen by her 
colleagues to become the first female majority leader in any state 
senate.
  In 1975, Sandra Day O'Connor won election to the Superior Court of 
Maricopa County, and was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court of 
Appeals four years later.
  Sandra Day O'Connor served as an Arizona State Supreme Court Justice 
for only two years before President Ronald Reagan nominated her in 1981 
to become the first female justice to serve on the United States 
Supreme Court.
  Politically, she was canny--and exhibited it well during her Senate 
confirmation hearings.
  She gracefully navigated politically precarious questions from 
senators but made her points, on national television, of noting her 
commitments to reduce crime and fix overloaded federal courts.
  She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.
  Despite her breast cancer diagnosis and a mastectomy, Justice Day 
O'Connor did not miss a day of court.
  Over the course of her 24 years on the court, the conservative 
justice became known as a moderating voice of reason.
  Sandra Day O'Connor was known for being a majority builder whenever 
possible, but also for being a swing vote in critical cases such as 
Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).
  It truly can be said that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor served as an 
inspiration for women around the world.
  Justice Sandra Day O'Connor broke down barriers for women in the 
legal profession to the betterment of that profession and the country 
as a whole.
  Justice Sandra Day O'Connor serves as a role model not only for girls 
and women, but for all those committed to equal justice under law.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring the remarkable career and 
achievement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, an extraordinary American 
who was and remains an inspiration to millions of people all over the 
world.

                          ____________________