Sandra Day O'Conner... Here and in Person!

Justice Sandra Day O' Conner

Sandra Day O'Conner recently retired from one of the most prestigious jobs you can have... She was a Justice on the Supreme Court! Not only that, but she was the first ever woman to be one. Before she joined the Judiciary Branch she was active in the Executive Branch, while serving in the Legislative Branch as a state senator in AZ. She decided to stray from her dream of ranching to become a lawyer. Unfortunately, she was turned down from certain law firms because of her gender. She didn't let that deter her, and later was elected as Justice by President Ronald Reagan. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked Justice O'Conner as the 2nd most powerful woman in America. In 2004 she was ranked the sixth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. Although these accomplishments would last anyone a lifetime and more (much like the job of Justice in the Supreme Court) she decided to retire.


The reason that we wanted to brief you on Justice O'Conner is that she was actually here in the flesh! It was fun, and we tested out some of the games that are featured on iCivics.com. The games are very fun, some addicting, and they still teach you about the government and how it runs. After we tried some of the games she sat down with us to answer some of our questions. Anna asked two questions. To her question about which of the presidents she had met was her favorite, she replied that Ronald Reagan was, because he was funny and had great stories. The case that was the hardest for her to decide was the one concerning taxes, because it didn't interest her and she hadn't previously known much concerning them. Terrina asked what her proudest moment was. She answered the day she got sworn in. All her family was there, and she was indeed proud to be sworn in as a Justice. Contrary to what we might think, she hadn't immediately agreed to be Justice. She was honored and excited about being the first woman, but was concerned that she might also make a bad name for women following her, and therefore also the last woman to serve. We really enjoyed the time that she spent with us, answering our questions and watching us play the games. She was so full of energy. Terrina thinks that she was much like her description of Reagen, easy to talk to and funny. This was an excellent experience. Thank you Justice O'Conner for your time, and please know we enjoyed learning about you, and your conversation! :)


One of the things that she had stressed was education. She said that she studied very hard in school, and when she was Justice working on those cases. One of the things she said that got our attention was that we should all strive to be something that was important to us personally. The main ideas that we got out of this wonderful experience was to use your education to your advantage to get where you want to be, doing what you want to do! =)