Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey designated September 25, 2019 Sandra Day O'Connor Day in Arizona, marking 38 years since the day Justice O'Connor was sworn in as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
"From her service as the first female Senate Majority Leader in the country to her 25 years on the U.S. Supreme Court – Sandra Day O'Connor has given us the example for how to serve with civility, character and compassion," said Governor Ducey. "A role model, trailblazer and Arizonan through and through, she has been a tireless advocate for justice, while inspiring countless generations around the world. Arizona is proud to recognize September 25, 2019 as Sandra Day O'Connor Day in recognition of her many and historic contributions to our state and country."
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan and sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger, Justice O'Connor received unanimous approval from the U.S. Senate. She served 25 years on the bench before retiring in 2006.
Sandra Day O’Connor is one of the few U.S. Supreme Court Justices to serve in all three branches of government. Prior to her judicial career, she held an Executive Branch position as an Arizona Assistant Attorney General and later in the Legislative Branch, as an Arizona Senator where she became its Majority Leader, the first woman to serve in that position in any state – another first. With her appointment to the Supreme Court, O’Connor also paved the way for more women to enter the legal profession. When O’Connor graduated from Stanford Law School in 1952, just 4% of the students were female and by the time she retired in 2006, roughly half of all law students were women.
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WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor made United States history when she was sworn in on September 25, 1981, by Chief Justice Warren Burger; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor inspired Americans across the country through her service, receiving more than 60,000 letters from the public in her first year on the Supreme Court alone, more than any other justice in history; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor grew up on the Lazy B Ranch in southeastern Arizona; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor served in the Arizona State Senate as the first woman Majority Leader of any state senate in United States History; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor served in the Arizona Judicial Branch on the Court of Appeals and in the Executive Branch as an Assistant Attorney General; and
WHEREAS, Sandra Day O’Connor has distinguished herself as an extraordinary Arizonan and American who has impacted our nation’s history for all future generations.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Douglas A. Ducey, Governor of the State of Arizona, do hereby proclaim September 25, 2019, as
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR DAY
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Arizona
GOVERNOR
DONE at the Capitol in Phoenix on this twenty-ninth day of July in the year Two Thousand and Nineteen and of the Independence of the United States of America the Two Hundred and Forty-Fourth.
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE