HomeCrimeSandra Day O'Connor's legacy as Supreme Court justice

Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy as Supreme Court justice

FILE — Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is shown before administering the oath of office to members of the Texas Supreme Court in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 6, 2003. For more than a decade, O’Connor was the only woman on the Supreme Court. And she was the first. Now the court has a record four. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File )

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman who served on the U.S. Supreme Court and paved the way for generations of female attorneys, judges, and legal professionals to come, passed away this past Friday. O’Connor served on the Court for over two decades, from 1981 to 2006, and during her tenure, was regarded as one of the most powerful women in the world, rendering opinions in landmark cases on critical American issues such as reproductive rights, affirmative action, and the power of the U.S. government to detain enemy combatants.

While O’Connor’s passing has many in the legal community commemorating her career and legacy, it has also revived questions about the future of the Court. Since the 2020 death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the second female Supreme Court justice, much of the original makeup of the Court has shifted dramatically; while there are now more women justices than ever before — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Amy Coney Barrett — three of those women make up the entirety of the court’s reliably liberal wing. This naturally raises questions over what future Supreme Court decisions, especially those relating to women’s issues, will look like.

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