Sandra Day O'Connor

[[File:Sandra Day O'Connor 1982.jpg|thumb|165px|Sandra Day O'Connor, 1982.]]{{uspolitics}}
'''Sandra Day O'Connor''' {{lived|1930|2023}}<ref>Linda Greenhouse, [https://archive.is/Sq7MC Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court, Is Dead at 93]. Archived from ''The New York Times'', 1 December 2023.</ref> was the first [[female]] [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice. She was appointed by [[Ronald Reagan]], and is considered by many [[conservatives]] to be a lapse of judgment on his part ([[Ann Coulter]] once called her "Reagan's biggest mistake"<ref>[https://anncoulter.com/2005/07/06/reagans-biggest-mistake-finally-retires/ Reagan’s Biggest Mistake Finally Retires]</ref>). Despite their fears, she was [[moderate]] on everything, often providing the swing vote on an otherwise split court.

Prior to her post on the Supreme Court, she served as a judge in [[Arizona]]. She eventually retired to care for her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer's, making her one of the few Justices who retired of their own will. A more recent example is [[Anthony Kennedy]].

She was apparently not of sound body and mind during the 2000 election because twelve years later, she admitted she regrets ''[[Bush v. Gore]]''.<ref>[http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/oconnor-regrets-bush-v-gore/ O’Connor Regrets Bush v. Gore], ''The New York Times''</ref>

==Why She Was Nominated==
During the 1980 Presidential Campaign, Reagan promised to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/10/15/reagan-pledges-he-would-name-a-woman-to-the-supreme-court/844817dc-27aa-4f5d-8e4f-0ab3a5e76865/ Reagan Pledges He Would Name a Woman to the Supreme Court]</ref> Stu Spencer, Reagan's chief campaign strategist, has admitted that he only convinced Reagan to do so due to his lack of popularity with female voters--although he also admits that Reagan never had an issue with nominating a qualified woman to the Supreme Court.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-02-01/biden-reagan-supreme-court-politics Column: The architect of Reagan’s pledge to put a woman on the Supreme Court says it was all political]</ref>

This is not to say O'Connor had no other qualifications, but it's hard to see what else Reagan saw in her other than the fact that she's a woman. Reagan even wrote in his diaries that night that "Already the flack is starting & from my own supporters."<ref>Reagan, Ronald. ''The Reagan Diaries'', edited by Douglas Brinkley, HarperCollins (2007)</ref>{{rp|40}}[[Jerry Falwell]] said on the nomination that "every good Christian should be concerned" to which [[Barry Goldwater]] quipped "every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell's ass."<ref>[https://reason.com/2007/07/31/jerry-falwells-paradoxical-leg/ Jerry Falwell's Paradoxical Legacy]</ref> George Will, also a famous supporter of the President (even helping prep Reagan for the 1980 debate<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/09/us/columnist-helped-reagan-on-debate.html COLUMNIST HELPED REAGAN ON DEBATE]</ref>), famously wrote on her:

{{quotebox|Reagan dug about as deep as any President ever has into the state judiciary for a nominee. But, then, his sexual criterion excluded about 95% of the law school graduates of relevant age group.<ref> ''Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot and other observations'' by Al Franken</ref>{{rp|91}}}}

==See also==
*[[Ruth Ginsburg]] - the second woman on the Supreme Court.
*[[Sonia Sotomayor]] - the third woman. They are only allowed in one at a time.
*{{wpl|Elena Kagan}} - the fourth. [[Barack Obama]] is obviously biased against men.
*{{wpl|Amy Coney Barrett}} - the fifth, the most conservative yet.
*{{wpl|Ketanji_Brown_Jackson}} - the sixth, first black, and most meritorious by far.

==References==
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[[Category:United States Supreme Court Justices]]

Categories: United States Supreme Court Justices