Sandra Day O’Connor, a retired associate justice, was born on March 26 of 1930, in El Paso, Texas. O’Connor’s father is Harry Alfred Day, and her mother is Ada Mae Wilkey. She grew up with her brother, H. Alan Day. In 1952, she married John Jay O’Connor III, with whom she has three sons with-- Scott, Brian, and Jay.
In 1946, Sandra graduated from Austin High School (ranked 6th in her class). She then enrolled herself at Stanford University, graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. After that, she was accepted into Stanford’s Law School, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1952 and third in her class.
To start off her legal career, from 1952-53, O’Connor worked as a County Attorney for San Mateo, California, without any pay. Then, in 1954-57, she served as a civilian lawyer in Germany at the Quatermaster Masker Center in Frankfurt. In 1958, she returned back to America, where she practiced law in Maryvale, Arizona. From 1965-69, she served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona. O’Connor was appointed to the Arizona State Senate in 1969, elected to two two-year terms back to back. During 1975, she was selected to be the Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, ending in 1979 because she was appointed to the Arizona
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She was the first woman to ever be nominated to do so. At the time of the nomination, she was still a judge for the Arizona Court of Appeals. She was hired to replace Potter Stewart. The nomination to become Associate Justice went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where her qualifications and characteristics were rather impressive to the Committee. Not only did Reagan support her, but she also gathered support from prominent Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Once the hearings were over, it was ruled that she was confirmed by a vote of 99-0 from the