Blog #38: Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first women appointed to the Supreme Court. When President Reagan said that he was going to appoint a woman to the bench no one really believed him. They just figured he said it to get elected, but when we was elected that he would sweep it under the bridge. He proved everyone wrong when he gave Sandra Day O’Connor a call in 1981. She said it herself that she more surprised than anyone to receive the call. After she graduated from law school Sandra Day O’Connor could not find a job that would pay her. She got her start by working for free in a small office that she shared with a secretary. Eventually, she had proved herself as a good lawyer and got a salary and an office of her own. She had not done any Federal work and she was just doing her thing in Arizona. She took the job though and said that she felt overwhelmed for the first year or so on the bench. Her whole staff was as green as she was. It was new to all of them. She had so much work to do with the mail alone and she had no idea about how the process worked and what she was supposed to do. She felt her way through it though and makes a great difference on the bench and to women everywhere. She opened the door for so many more women and put a huge crack in the glass ceiling that has been oppressing women for decades. Many people speak of Sandra Day O’Connor as the “swing vote” on the Supreme Court. Being the swing vote means that she was the deciding vote on a lot of issues. It was a topic that she did not like to speak of though.