The Legacy of Sandra Day O’Connor
Justice O'Connor is a peerless trailblazer who has left a lasting impact on the history of the United States. Her legacy lives on in the many areas described below and through the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute, which she founded in 2009 with a mission to advance civil discourse, civic engagement, and civics education.
Civil Discourse
Justice O'Connor was known throughout her career for promoting and engaging in objective, fact-based, civil discourse. During her time in the Arizona state legislature, she hosted dinners at her home for lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to get to know each other and work toward finding solutions to the various challenges facing the state. And as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, she similarly championed civility and the building of personal bonds and relationships between the justices, even when they strongly disagreed.
Today, the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute continues this legacy by organizing Civic Collaboratories that facilitate public policy discussions and events like legislative dinners for current legislators at the historic adobe home of Justice O'Connor, O'Connor House.
Jurisprudence and Law
During her nearly 25 years on the United States Supreme Court, Justice O'Connor developed a reputation for independent, rigorously fact-based legal thinking and analysis. Justice O'Connor often focused on the real-world implications of any given Court decision and prioritized the impacts on real people over purely ideological or theoretical considerations. This prevented her from being pigeonholed into a simple "liberal" or "conservative" box.
Eschewing flowery or poetic language, her written opinions cut straight to the heart of any issue at hand—a pattern also evident in her opinions from the Arizona Court of Appeals. Justice O'Connor's significant impact can be seen in the fact that in 360 Supreme Court cases decided 5-4, she cast the deciding vote for the majority, including 114 cases where she wrote an opinion. Multiple observers have called her the most influential woman in American history.
Civics Education
"Knowledge about the ideas embodied in the Constitution and the ways in which it shapes our lives is not passed down from generation to generation through the gene pool; it must be learned anew by each generation."
-Sandra Day O'Connor
Justice O'Connor promoted civics education and emphasized its importance throughout her career. After retiring from the Supreme Court, she spearheaded the creation of an online games platform for learning civics that is used today by more than 5 million students in all 50 states. Justice O'Connor also championed the launch of Camp O'Connor, an annual, experiential summer camp for middle school students to learn about and experience how our government works first-hand.
Legislation / Legislatures
In 1974, then-Senator O'Connor became the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate, the first female majority leader of any state senate in the United States. During her time there, not only did she become a role model for all women and promote civility among her colleagues, as mentioned above, but she also sponsored or co-sponsored more than 100 pieces of legislation to improve the lives of Arizonans. Dozens of these bills were successfully passed, including legislation to repeal state statutes that discriminated against women and a major reform of the process to select judges. This latter reform established the process of "merit selection" of judges that is still today considered a model for the entire country.
Supporting Women
Sandra Day O'Connor became a household name both nationally and internationally for becoming the first woman on the United States Supreme Court. Yet Justice O'Connor's life is full of firsts apart from this most noted one. As mentioned above, Justice O'Connor was the first majority leader of any state senate in the country. She also received her law degree at a time when only two percent of all American law students were women. Graduating into a hostile job market in which most law firms refused to hire female attorneys, she persevered and found a job at the San Mateo County District Attorney's office, starting at first with no pay at all. Throughout her career, Justice O'Connor steadily championed the removal of barriers to women's progress and achievement.
The Sandra Day O'Connor Institute
Founded in 2009 by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the vision of the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute is to create a nation where important policy decisions affecting our future are made through a process of critical analysis of facts and informed participation of all citizens. The Institute's many educational programs, from the Emerging Leaders Network and Distinguished Speakers Series to the annual History Dinner, Legacy Luncheon, and Issues and Answers Forums, provide a critically needed, non-partisan forum for learning and discussion of timely issues facing the country. The Institute's various programs serve thousands of people every year.
