During her quarter-century as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor, LLB ’52 (BA ’50), was in the majority or plurality of countless high-profile decisions and wrote landmark opinions in polarizing cases dealing with abortion, affirmative action, and military confinement, among other hot-button issues.
But Stanford Law School Professor Jeffrey L. Fisher best remembers a lesser-known case. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education asked whether a school board could be held liable under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 for failing to address student-on-student sexual harassment. O’Connor wrote the 5-4 opinion holding that school boards could indeed be held liable for such failures, drawing a sharp dissent from Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (BA ’58).
Fisher says he remembers the moment “vividly . . . the first woman on the Court, saying this to four men who were all dissenting.”
O’Connor, who died at the age of 93 on December 1, 2023, was often called “the most powerful woman in America” for the decisive role she played in so many important cases. She was revered for her work as a pragmatic and non-ideological justice, in support of the rule of law around the world, and, after her retirement, on behalf of civics education in the United States.
For those who worked closely with her, the legacy she leaves behind is also highly personal: the morning exercise classes she hosted; the Southwestern meals she prepared; and her intense focus on whatever task was at hand, from wrapping Christmas gifts for her family to deciding the scope of the U.S. Constitution.
“Justice O’Connor was unusually kind, direct, straightforward, and personable,” says Susan Dunn, JD ’86, a retired corporate attorney who clerked for O’Connor in 1987. “It might be that, as the first woman justice of the Supreme Court, she didn’t have a model to follow or a format to fit into. She would just be herself.”
O’Connor’s pragmatic approach to cases left a lasting impact on American jurisprudence. One of her significant contributions was in federalism. For instance, in New York v. United States (1992), she helped create what became known as the “anti-commandeering” doctrine, distinguishing between Congress incentivizing states to participate in some effort and forcing them to do so.
Georgetown Law Professor Julie Rose O’Sullivan (BA ’81), who clerked for O’Connor in 1985, remembers another case, Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, in which the justice wrote a concurring opinion to clarify what the Court agreed on regarding the equal protection clause.
O’Connor’s clerks remember her for prioritizing personal relationships and experiences, despite a demanding work schedule. Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michelle T. Friedland, JD ’00 (BS ’94), who clerked for O’Connor in 2001, recalls, “At that point, she was in her 70s. I’ve never encountered anyone in my life with more energy.”
Throughout her career, O’Connor was active in rule of law efforts globally. In 1990, she became the first member of the executive board of the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Legal Initiative; she didn’t miss a board meeting in over a decade. She also advocated for legal reforms in China.
After her retirement, she founded iCivics, a nonprofit dedicated to civic education. O’Connor called it “the most important work I’ve ever done.” Since its founding, the organization has provided resources to more than 9 million students each year, in all 50 states.
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