First Supreme Court Justice O'Connor is dead
Sandra Day O'Connor is the first woman ever to be appointed to the US Supreme Court; the Republican positions herself between her conservative and liberal colleagues. In one of the court's biggest decisions, she is part of a conservative majority.
Former US constitutional judge Sandra Day O'Connor - the first woman to sit on the country's Supreme Court in history - is dead. The jurist died at the age of 93 in Phoenix, Arizona, from complications of dementia and a respiratory illness, according to the Supreme Court in Washington. O'Connor had served on the powerful court for a quarter of a century until 2006.
A graduate of California's elite Stanford University, she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 by then-President Ronald Reagan. As a moderate Republican, the native Texan occupied a middle position between the conservative and left-liberal judges on the Court.
She repeatedly sided with the liberal camp in rulings, for example on issues relating to the separation of state and religion. However, she was also part of the conservative majority of judges who, in the election thriller between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore after the 2000 presidential election, prohibited a recount of the votes in the state of Florida, which ultimately secured Bush's overall victory. O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006.
O'Connor made history as the first female justice of the Supreme Court. In 2009, then US President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the USA. After O'Connor, five other women have become Supreme Court judges: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Sandra Day O'Connor, the Supreme Court justice appointed by Ronald Reagan during his time as USA's president, was a moderating influence between conservative and liberal judges during her tenure. Her decision to join the conservative majority in prohibiting a recount of votes in the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was a significant event in American politics.
Source: www.ntv.de
