ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
During the 1980 campaign Ronald Reagan pledged to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court. Justice Potter Stewart retired in 1981, giving Reagan his first vacancy. Arizona judge Sandra Day O'Connor, a former state senator, had a moderate Republican record.
What happened
The Senate confirmed O'Connor 99–0; she was sworn in on September 25, 1981, as the 102nd justice and first woman on the Court. For 24 years she often cast decisive swing votes on abortion, affirmative action, and federalism.
Why it still matters
O'Connor retired in 2006 to care for her husband with Alzheimer's and later advocated civics education. Memorable detail: Stanford Law School had offered O'Connor a job as legal secretary in the 1950s because firms would not hire women as attorneys—she kept the secretary's nameplate on her desk for years.
Background
Her swing votes shaped decades of rulings.