By Evaristo Lara
At the age of 93, Sandra Day O’Connor, the first American to serve on the Supreme Court, died.
Complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory disease caused the death of the judge who exercised her knowledge in the court for more than a generation.
Day O’Connor graduated from Stanford University School of Law, where he became close friends with classmate William Rehnquist, who years later became chief justice of the nation’s Supreme Court.
After graduating, the Texas lawyer worked four years in the Arizona attorney general’s office and In 1969 she was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate.
Later, upon being re-elected, she became the first American to serve as majority leader of the state Senate.
In 1981, then-President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, this due to the retirement of Judge Potter Stewart.
In this way, the lawyer got the position after being confirmed unanimously in a vote of 99-0.
The performance of the Texan jurist was characterized because from the beginning of the 90’s and until 2005, the year she retired, her vote was decisive in the most controversial cases that came to the court.
Among the incidents for which Day O’Connor is most remembered is the fact that he spoke out to end the recount of votes in Florida between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which was crucial in defining the presidential elections in the 2000.
Day O’Connor also gained notoriety by approving the creation of more congressional districts with a majority of African-American voters; as well as his stance on keeping government separate from religion.
The fact that Sandra O’Connor went down in history as the first female judge prompted other states to include women in their supreme courts.
John Roberts, president of the Supreme Court, issued a message on social networks where he lamented the loss of the former judge whose performance he recognized.
“We judges mourn the loss of a dear colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law and an eloquent advocate of civic education,” the letter states.
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