In this last week of Women's history month, it seems fitting that we should celebrate the 77th birthday of Sandra Day O'Connor. Although she will be remembered as the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court, a life in law was not O'Connor's ambition. In fact, as a child, O'Connor aspired to be a rancher. O’Connor’s mother Ida Day, a college-educated woman, wanted her daughter to experience more than the ranch on which she lived. She sent Sandra to a private girls' school in Texas. After completing high school at age sixteen, Sandra Day attended Stanford University and graduated magna cum laude in 1950. Her plan to return to ranch life changed due to the influence of one of her teachers, who was also a lawyer. O'Connor enrolled at Stanford Law School and worked on the Stanford Law Review. She graduated in 1952.

Despite her credentials, O'Connor was unable to find a job at a law firm because she was a woman. Her only offer was for a secretarial position, which she declined. O'Connor finally found work as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, CA. When her husband was stationed in Germany in the mid-1950s, O'Connor worked as a civilian attorney for the Quartermaster Market Center. Back in Arizona, O'Connor took time off to raise her sons, but kept herself busy as a volunteer for the state bar, local zoning commission, Salvation Army, a school for minority children, and other activities. From 1965-1981, she held various positions in Arizona, from Assistant Attorney General to Superior Court Judge. In 1981, O'Connor became the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where she served until 2006. According to her biography in Contemporary Authors Online, "Although she does not consider herself a feminist, O'Connor was quoted by Merrill McLoughlin of Ladies' Home Journal as commenting: 'I am sure that but for that effort [the women's movement], I would not be serving in this job.'"

You can read more about Sandra Day O'Connor in the Biography Resource Center database and in the following books:

Sandra Day O'Connor : how the first woman on the Supreme Court became its most influential justice by Joan Biskupic Call no: BIOG Oc518 B

The majesty of the law : reflections of a Supreme Court justice by Sandra Day O'Connor ; edited by Craig Joyce Call no: 347.7326 O

Lazy B : growing up on a cattle ranch in the American southwest by Sandra Day O'Connor and H. Alan Day Call no: BIOG Oc518

We also have a video titled A Conversation on the Constitution: judicial independence in which O'Connor, along with fellow justices Stephen G. Breyer and Anthony Kennedy field questions from 50 high school students from the Philadelphia and Los Angeles areas about the significance of the judiciary and the ways that independence is protected by the Constitution. You can find it in the Music Arts and Media Department. Call no: MAM DVD 342.73 C

Source:
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC