2023-12-01 21:08:39
The first woman to become a judge in Supreme Court of the United States (USA), Sandra Day O’Connor, died at the age of 93, this Friday, 1st, in Phoenix, capital of the North American state of Arizona. She had complications related to advanced dementia and suffered from a respiratory illness.
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Sandra was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and remained in office for 25 years, until 2006. In addition to being a judge, she was also a senator from Arizona in the 1970s, becoming the first woman to be majority leader of Arizona, three years after being elected.
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Before reaching the Supreme Court, Sandra was elected, in 1974, as a state judge. In 1979, she became a state appeals court judge. In 2009, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Democratic President Barack Obama, the highest civilian honor an American president can bestow.
Sandra defended abortion, but was considered moderate
“It had an incredible ripple effect of making opportunities become available for women,” Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, told Scott Pelley in 2004. The retired associate justice died today at the age of 93. pic.twitter.com/zlARbDlCUs
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 1, 2023
Sandra was known for adopting centrist positions and for having negotiation skills. She was a defender of the right to abortion, based on the principle of Roe contra Wade. Columnist Ana Paula Henkel explained this case in an article published in Edition 119 of Revista Oeste.
“Some of us, as individuals, find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but that cannot control the court’s decision,” Sandra said at the time.
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The judge participated in several close decisions, such as the case of the Florida vote recount in the 2000 presidential election. On that occasion, she decided to interrupt the process that put Republican George W. Bush in power.
The judge said she was a defender of dialogue and debate. “Disagreement is a sign that progress is underway,” she wrote, in one of her books.
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