Former US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor dies aged 93

Former US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor dies aged 93

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Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to sit on America’s most powerful bench and a decisive figure on issues including affirmative action and abortion, has died aged 93.

O’Connor died on Friday morning in Phoenix, Arizona, due to complications linked to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, according to a statement by the Supreme Court. She was appointed by US president Ronald Reagan in 1981 and sat on the court for more than 24 years until her retirement in 2006.

O’Connor “blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female justice”, chief justice John Roberts said in a statement.

“She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candour,” Roberts added. “We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education.”

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, called her “one of the true historic figures of the 20th century,” who was “often the key vote in defending the rights of Americans — in protecting clean air, in protecting women’s rights, in protecting against discrimination, in protecting voting rights.” Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, described her as “a towering figure in the history of American law”.

O’Connor was known as a conservative moderate on the court, and proved to be an influential swing vote willing to side with liberal justices on matters such as abortion and affirmative action — two issues that have undergone dramatic shifts in the high court over the past 18 months.

The current bench, which is split 6-3 between conservative and liberal justices, last year overturned Roe vs Wade, the legal decision that had enshrined the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years. In June it curbed universities’ ability to consider race in admissions.

In a 2003 case, O’Connor voted to over-rule a legal decision that upheld a state statute criminalising same-sex sodomy. In her concurring opinion, she wrote that the law “brands all homosexuals as criminals, thereby making it more difficult for homosexuals to be treated in the same manner as everyone else”.

Hailing her as “a jurist of great common sense, practicality, and vision”, US attorney-general Merrick Garland noted that O’Connor had “insisted on focusing on how the law and the court’s decisions would affect people in their everyday lives”.

Born in Texas in 1930, O’Connor held an array of jobs including serving as an assistant attorney-general in Arizona before being appointed to the state’s senate, where she was subsequently selected as its majority leader. She was a judge in the Arizona state court system before being selected by Reagan — who had vowed during his presidential campaign to place a woman on the Supreme Court — to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Potter Stewart.

When announcing her nomination in 1981, Reagan said: “She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity, and devotion to the public good which have characterised the 101 brethren who have preceded her”.

After her retirement from the high court, O’Connor focused on promoting civics education.