Distinguished Speakers Series

FIRST: Sandra Day O’Connor, An Intimate Portrait of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice, chronicles Justice O’Connor’s groundbreaking life and career. Born in 1930 in El Paso and raised on an Arizona cattle ranch, she set her sights on Stanford University at age 16 and was accepted. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would hire her. In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, ahead of many other “firsts” for women in public life in the years to come.

The inspiring and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s FIRST female Supreme Court justice, draws on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives—by the New York Times bestselling author Evan Thomas. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor personally selected Mr. Thomas to write her authorized biography in 2016. He will travel to Phoenix as part of the national book launch.

Evan Thomas ~ New York Times Bestselling Author

When President Ronald Reagan appointed her as the first female justice, she began a pioneering quarter-century on the bench, hearing cases that ultimately advanced and defined American law. Diagnosed with cancer at 58 and later caring for a husband with Alzheimer’s, O’Connor endured every difficulty with grit and poise.

In FIRST, Evan Thomas illustrates how Justice O’Connor also served as a beacon for how our public officials should serve their country. Her extraordinary life offers a roadmap for when to fight and when to concede, how to love and when to say goodbye.

Evan Thomas is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestselling John Paul Jones, Sea of Thunder, and Being Nixon. He was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek. Mr. Thomas holds a BA from Harvard, a JD from University of Virginia School of Law and has taught at Harvard and Princeton.

Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the O’Connor Institute and the Sandra Day O’Connor Scholarship Fund to benefit students at the ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.