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Sandra Day O'Connor was a Supreme Court associate justice from September 21, 1981 to January 31, 2006. She received her appointment from Ronald Reagan. Potter Stewart preceded her, and Samuel Alito assumed her seat when she retired. During her confirmation hearing, Justice O’Connor received unanimous Senate approval. She was the first female justice to serve in the US Supreme Court. Previously, O'Connor served two terms in the Arizona state senate.
O’Connor presided over several important cases during her tenure. One significant case was the Lee v. Weisman (1992) case. The case determined the government's stance towards religion in public schools. The justices decided 5-4 in favor of Weisman, finding that government-sponsored prayer is unacceptable at graduations and other public school events. Weisman brought the case against the principal of his daughter's school after the principal invited a rabbi to speak at a graduation ceremony, and he ended the ceremony with a prayer.
Justice O’Connor also presided over the Grutter v. Bollinger case in 2003, which was a landmark case where she wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision. The case initially appeared before a district court, where the plaintiffs alleged that the University of Michigan Law School used narrow racial distinctions that favored minorities in their admissions process. The district court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and found the use of racial distinctions by the school as unlawful. The school appealed the decision to the circuit court, which overturned the district court’s decision. The plaintiffs then took the case to the Supreme Court, which upheld the reversal of the circuit court and ruled that the admission process of the school was entirely constitutional.
In 2004, O'Connor presided over the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) case that defined the scope of state environmental regulators and the EPA. The decision was 5-4, and the Supreme Court determined that the EPA had the authority to overrule state agency decisions under the Clean Air Act. It ruled that a company must ensure that it is using the newest and best technology to prevent or reduce environmental pollution.
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