With the release of a public letter October 23, 208 from Sandra Day O’Connor, she announced she was stepping back from public life, /O’Connor Institute photo
By Ronald J. Hansen | Arizona Republic
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, quietly turns 92 Saturday as the Senate considers Ketanji Brown Jackson for a seat on the high court.
The Arizona native retreated from public life in 2018 because of advancing dementia, but some of the same issues that defined her 25 years on the Supreme Court remain on the nation’s front-burner.
Jackson’s nomination, for one, is another historic milestone. The D.C. Circuit judge is the first Black woman nominated to the court and would be the first to join if she is confirmed as expected.
Beyond that, the Supreme Court is set to hand down a momentous ruling within months that could allow significant rollbacks in abortion rights across the country with a case that revisits the issue that O’Connor settled — at least for a while — a generation ago.
A history:Sandra Day O’Connor — with a work ethic gained on a ranch — embodies Grand Canyon state
Ruth McGregor, the former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court and a clerk for O’Connor during her historic first term on the U.S. Supreme Court, said the recent events have reminded her of what she witnessed.
“It very much took me back to Justice O’Connor’s appointment,” McGregor said. “It’s the same pressures, the same stress just because of the nature of it being a historic appointment.”
“Everybody wanted (O’Connor’s) time. Everybody wanted to see her,” she said.
