O'Connor, Sandra Day

(1930.03.26-    )  U. S. Supreme Court Justice, judge, lawyer, author.

Lived in Phoenix

Justice O'Connor and her brother overcame hand cramps to sign 600 copies of their book about growing up on an Arizona ranch, much to the appreciation of admirers packing the Barnes & Noble bookstore in north Phoenix. 2-02

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court, and the only woman to have a Federal Court building to carry her name.

Justice O'Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, but raised on a 160,000 acre family ranch in southeast Arizona where the nearest neighbor was 25 miles away.  She and her brother Alan Day wrote a book about growing up in rural Arizona which was published in 2002.

She studied law at Stanford where she received her law degree in two years instead of the usual three.  She returned to Arizona where she and her husband practiced law in Phoenix.

President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the United States Supreme Court in 1981.