Hudson v. McMillian

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the United States. Appointed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor replaced Justice Potter Stewart, who had retired.

O'Connor was born Sandra Day on 26 March 1930 in El Paso, Texas. At Stanford Law School, she graduated third in her class, which included future colleague and chief justice, William H. Rehnquist. After marrying John O'Connor, also an attorney, O'Connor sought work in private law firms but none would hire a female as anything other than a legal secretary. She found work as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California and then embarked on a public and private legal career that landed her a seat by appointment in the Arizona Senate. After winning an election and a reelection, O'Connor was elected to a judgeship in the Maricopa County Superior Court. Thus O'Connor began an ascension up the judicial ladder that continued with her appointment by Governor Bruce Babbitt to the Arizona Court of Appeals and culminated in her historic appointment to the highest court in the land.