Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Recognized by House

On March 1, the House approved, 410-0, a resolution (H. Res. 357) honoring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the occasion of her retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sponsored by Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) and Hilda Solis (D-CA), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to be the 102nd Supreme Court justice and the first female member of the Supreme Court;
• The elevation of Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice helped pave the way for more women to enter into the legal profession;
• In 2004, women accounted for approximately half of all students enrolled in law school, compared to 35 percent of law students in 1981 and just 4 percent of law students when Justice O’Connor graduated from Stanford Law School in 1952;
• Sandra Day O’Connor has left a thoughtful and enduring mark on American jurisprudence, which has been molded through her wisdom and strong character; and
• Justice O’Connor blazed new trails for her gender and is a role model for all Americans.Pointing to the significance of March as Women’s History Month, Rep. Brown-Waite stated, “When Justice O’Connor first set out on her journey, the dream of attending law school was not something a woman commonly achieved. Women in her day were encouraged to stay in the home, supporting the men who ran the country. Justice O’Connor’s success to find work in the law profession exemplifies the determination that she had to achieve greatness. By defying society restrictions, today she offers great hope to the women of every generation…Little girls and young women take for granted today what women such as Justice O’Connor accomplished in earlier generations. As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, I am honored to have offered this resolution today to remind us all, both men and women, to remain true to our beliefs and question the obstacles that others have put in place.”

  Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said that Sandra Day O’Connor “has been a leader for women in many ways. She became the first woman to serve as the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate and the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, paving the way and opening the door for the next generation of women to substantively participate in the field of law. In fact, I feel, as a lawyer myself, a debt of gratitude to Justice O’Connor for the groundbreaking path that she laid for all of us who followed. But let us not forget that she was not only a symbol of hope for aspiring women lawyers all around the Nation, but she has also been a powerful contributor to our American jurisprudence, often the pivotal fifth vote on some of the most important issues in Modern American history that came before the U.S. Supreme Court.”