117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3294 

AN ACT 

To obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on 

the Capitol Grounds of a statue to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sandra 

Day O’Connor and a statue to honor Associate Justice 

of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader 

Ginsburg. 
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR.—Congress finds the 

5 following: 

6 (1) Sandra Day O’Connor was born in 1930 in 

7 El Paso, Texas, and spent her childhood on her fam8 ily’s isolated Arizona cattle ranch. She lived with her 

9 grandmother in El Paso during the school year, 

10 away from her home and parents. 

11 (2) O’Connor matriculated to Stanford Univer12 sity at the age of 16, and combined her under13 graduate and law school curricula, graduating with 

14 a bachelor’s degree in economics and a law degree 

15 in just 6 years. She was third in her law school 

16 class, behind William Rehnquist, her future col17 league on the Supreme Court of the United States 

18 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Supreme Court’’). 

19 (3) Despite her qualifications, O’Connor could 

20 not find work as an attorney because of bias against 

21 women in the law. She ended up negotiating for an 

22 unpaid position in the San Mateo County District 

23 Attorney’s office at a shared desk, while her hus24 band, John, finished at Stanford Law School 1 year 

25 later. 
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1 (4) O’Connor traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, 

2 in 1954 with her husband John, who had joined the 

3 United States Army Judge Advocate General’s 

4 Corps, where she was able to find work as a civilian 

5 attorney with the United States Army Quarter6 master Corps. In 1957, O’Connor returned to Ari7 zona and still could not find work with a traditional 

8 law firm due to her gender, so she ‘‘hung out a shin9 gle’’ as a sole practitioner. 

10 (5) In 1965, O’Connor was hired as an Assist11 ant Attorney General for the State of Arizona. 

12 (6) Active in Republican Party politics and 

13 well-received for her work at the Arizona State Cap14 itol, O’Connor was appointed to an Arizona State 

15 Senate seat in 1969 when the incumbent, also a 

16 woman, was appointed to a Federal position and va17 cated the office. 

18 (7) In 1970, O’Connor was elected to the Ari19 zona State Senate and served 2 consecutive terms. 

20 In 1972, she was selected as Majority Leader of the 

21 Arizona State Senate, the first time a woman held 

22 such a position in any State. 

23 (8) In 1974, O’Connor ran for office as a trial 

24 court judge. She won and was later appointed to the 

25 Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. 
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1 (9) On August 19, 1981, President Ronald 

2 Reagan nominated O’Connor to be an Associate Jus3 tice of the Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated 

4 by Associate Justice Potter Stewart. On September 

5 21, 1981, the Senate confirmed O’Connor’s nomina6 tion by a unanimous vote, making her the first 

7 woman to serve on the Supreme Court. 

8 (10) O’Connor established herself as a prag9 matic, independent voice on the Supreme Court, 

10 casting decisive votes during a time when the Court 

11 was being asked to resolve politically charged issues. 

12 (11) In the 1982 case of Mississippi University 

13 for Women v. Hogan, O’Connor wrote the majority 

14 opinion holding that the State could not prevent 

15 men from enrolling in an all-women’s nursing school, 

16 writing that laws discriminating on the basis of sex 

17 would be allowed only if there was an ‘‘exceedingly 

18 persuasive justification’’ for them. 

19 (12) O’Connor sought, when possible, to find 

20 the middle ground between her often-divided col21 leagues, frequently joining the majority decision but 

22 presenting her views in concurring opinions that es23 chewed broad constitutional doctrine in favor of re24 solving the cases before the Court. 
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1 (13) O’Connor put a very public face on the 

2 role of the Supreme Court, domestically and around 

3 the world. She became the Court’s most prolific pub4 lic speaker, traveling to all 50 States and to count5 less law schools, libraries, and public events to de6 scribe how the Court works and its role in our con7 stitutional form of government. She traveled world8 wide as an ambassador for the Rule of Law and the 

9 independence of judiciaries everywhere. 

10 (14) After 24 years on the Supreme Court, 

11 O’Connor announced her retirement to care for her 

12 ailing husband, who had Alzheimer’s disease. Presi13 dent George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, Jr., 

14 for the vacancy, but before Roberts was confirmed, 

15 Chief Justice Rehnquist passed away, creating a sec16 ond vacancy. President Bush personally appealed to 

17 O’Connor to remain on the Court so he could nomi18 nate Roberts for the Chief Justice vacancy and have 

19 more time to make a second nomination to the 

20 Court. In yet another act of public service, O’Connor 

21 agreed to serve until Samuel Alito was confirmed to 

22 fill her seat on January 31, 2006. 

23 (15) O’Connor began her retirement with 2 

24 goals. One was to convince more States to adopt 

25 merit selection of judges for filling vacancies in 
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1 State courts. The second was to educate the public 

2 on the importance of an independent judiciary. Her 

3 judicial independence work led to her awareness of 

4 a national civics education deficit. 

5 (16) In 2009, O’Connor created iCivics.org to 

6 educate young Americans about civics and what it 

7 means to be a citizen. That endeavor grew to become 

8 the largest civics education platform in the country, 

9 with over 7,000,000 students annually enrolling in 

10 the programs. Its popularity was due to a capti11 vating online, interactive gaming approach. The pro12 gram was free to all and had no advertising. iCivics 

13 played a crucial role in Educating for American De14 mocracy, a federally funded initiative to improve 

15 civics and history education, which released its re16 ports in March 2021. 

17 (b) RUTH BADER GINSBURG.—Congress finds the 

18 following: 

19 (1) Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933 in 

20 Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in a low-income, 

21 working-class neighborhood. 

22 (2) Ginsburg graduated from Cornell University 

23 in 1954, finishing first in her class. Following her 

24 graduation, Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law 
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1 School in 1956, entering into a class of 552 men 

2 and only 8 other women. 

3 (3) As a law student, Ginsburg became the first 

4 female member of the Harvard Law Review, a pres5 tigious legal journal. She also cared for her husband, 

6 Martin Ginsburg, who had been diagnosed with can7 cer, and their young daughter. Ginsburg finished her 

8 legal education at Columbia Law School, where she 

9 graduated first in her class in 1959. 

10 (4) Ginsburg taught at Rutgers University Law 

11 School from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia Law 

12 School from 1972 to 1980, where she became the 

13 school’s first female tenured professor. 

14 (5) During the 1970s, Ginsburg served as the 

15 director of the Women’s Rights Project of the Amer16 ican Civil Liberties Union. In this position, she led 

17 the fight against gender discrimination and success18 fully argued 6 landmark cases before the Supreme 

19 Court. 

20 (6) Ginsburg won 5 cases on gender discrimina21 tion before the Supreme Court, including the case 

22 Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, which involved a portion 

23 of the Social Security Act that favored women over 

24 men, because the Act granted certain benefits to 

25 widows, but not widowers. 
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1 (7) In 1980, President Jimmy Carter nomi2 nated Ginsburg to a seat on the United States Court 

3 of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

4 (8) On June 22, 1993, President Bill Clinton 

5 nominated Ginsburg to be an Associate Justice of 

6 the Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated by Asso7 ciate Justice Byron White. On August 3, 1993, the 

8 Senate confirmed Ginsburg’s nomination to the Su9 preme Court by a 96 to 3 vote. 

10 (9) Ginsburg became the second female justice 

11 to serve on the Supreme Court, as well as the first 

12 Jewish female justice to serve on the Supreme 

13 Court. 

14 (10) As a justice, Ginsburg presented a strong 

15 voice in favor of gender equality, voting rights, the 

16 rights of workers, and the separation of church and 

17 state. 

18 (11) In 1996, Ginsburg wrote the Supreme 

19 Court’s landmark decision in United States v. Vir20 ginia, which held that the State-supported Virginia 

21 Military Institute could not refuse to admit women. 

22 (12) Ginsburg famously dissented in Ledbetter 

23 v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where the plaintiff, 

24 a female worker being paid significantly less than 

25 males with her same qualifications, sued under title 
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1 VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

2 2000e et seq.), but was denied relief under a statute 

3 of limitation issue. Ginsburg broke with tradition 

4 and wrote a high colloquial version of her dissent to 

5 read from the bench. In her dissent, she also called 

6 for Congress to undo this interpretation of the law. 

7 (13) Ginsburg’s impactful dissent in Ledbetter 

8 v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. led to the successful 

9 passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 

10 (Public Law 111–2; 123 Stat. 5), which was the 

11 first piece of legislation signed by President Barack 

12 Obama. 

13 (14) Until the 2018 term, Ginsburg had not 

14 missed a day of oral arguments, not even when she 

15 was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, 

16 after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her 

17 husband passed away in 2010. 

18 (15) Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 

19 2020. 

20 SEC. 2. STATUES HONORING JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O’CON21 NOR AND JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG. 

22 (a) OBTAINING OF STATUES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, in consulta25 tion with the Committee on House Administration of 
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1 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

2 Rules and Administration of the Senate, and under 

3 such terms and conditions as the Joint Committee 

4 of Congress on the Library considers appropriate, 

5 consistent with applicable law, the Joint Committee 

6 shall— 

7 (A) enter into an agreement to obtain a 

8 statue honoring Associate Justice of the Su9 preme Court of the United States Sandra Day 

10 O’Connor; and 

11 (B) enter into an agreement to obtain a 

12 statue honoring Associate Justice of the Su13 preme Court of the United States Ruth Bader 

14 Ginsburg. 

15 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In selecting one or more 

16 artists to make the statues obtained under para17 graph (1), the Joint Committee of Congress on the 

18 Library shall make the announcement available to, 

19 and consider, artists from a variety of backgrounds, 

20 including artists from underrepresented demographic 

21 groups. 

22 (b) INSTALLATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Architect of the Capitol, 

24 under the direction of the Joint Committee of Con25 gress on the Library, shall permanently install each 
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1 statue obtained under subsection (a) in a prominent 

2 location in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds, as 

3 described in section 5102 of title 40, United States 

4 Code. 

5 (2) PRIORITY FOR LOCATION.—In determining 

6 the location for the permanent installation of each 

7 statue obtained under subsection (a), the Joint Com8 mittee of Congress on the Library shall give priority 

9 to identifying an appropriate location near the Old 

10 Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Cap11 itol. 

12 (c) FUNDING.—Amounts available in the Capitol 

13 Preservation Fund established under section 803 of the 

14 Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 1988 (2 U.S.C. 2083) 

15 may be used by the Joint Committee of Congress on the 

16 Library for payments for the costs of creating and install17 ing the statues obtained under subsection (a), without re18 gard to subsections (b) and (d) of such section, provided 

19 that not more than $500,000 of such amounts may be 

20 used for each statue obtained under subsection (a). 

Passed the Senate December 9, 2021. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3294 

AN ACT 

To obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol 

burg. Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsue to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme United States Sandra Day O’Connor and a statAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the or on the Capitol Grounds of a statue to honor