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Sandra Day O’Connor
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Signed official portrait photograph of Justice O’Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor, 1930–2023. Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, 1981–2006. Official 8” x 10” glossy color portrait signed Sandra Day O'Connor.
This is beautiful official portrait of Justice O’Connor, which she has boldly signed in silver paint pen.
President Ronald Reagan appointed O’Connor to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart in 1981. Just as Stewart often cast the deciding vote in cases in which the Court was sharply divided, over the next 24 years O’Connor, a moderate conservative, became the deciding vote in many of the most important and debated issues of the day, including abortion and affirmative action. She eschewed broader legal rules in favor of narrower rulings, tailored to the facts of the specific cases before her, that left the Court breathing room in future cases. She used her vote—and her reasoning—to temper the starker positions of other Justices whom she joined in the majority.
As a result, O’Connor became one of the most influential women in the United States. In 2004, Forbes called her the fourth most powerful woman in America and the sixth most powerful in the world.
O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up on a ranch in Southeast Arizona. She attended Stanford University, where she majored in economics and graduated magna cum laude in 1950. Because a legal dispute over the ranch had piqued her interest in law, she then enrolled in Stanford Law School, which she completed in only two years rather than the usual three. She graduated third in her class of 102, which was led by future Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, with whom she served on the Supreme Court.
Despite her law school success, O’Connor found it difficult to find a law firm position in a field still dominated by men. She started her own firm and practiced with a single partner until she temporarily withdrew from practice to care for her children. She volunteered time with the Arizona State Hospital, the Arizona State Bar, the Salvation Army, and various local schools. She also became involved with the Arizona Republican Party. When a state senator resigned, Arizona’s governor appointed O’Connor to the vacant seat. She remained in the Senate two more terms, becoming the first female majority leader in the United States. In 1974, O’Connor was elected a judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, a position she held four years until being appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. Not quite two years later, President Reagan nominated her as the first woman to Supreme Court. She served more than 24 years before she retired in 2006.
This photograph is exceptional. There are a couple of small handling marks that do not show unless the photo is turned just right in the light, and there is a minor repair in the upper right corner. The photo is in very fine condition.
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