IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Deadline: Legal Blog

From Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor dies at 93

Appointed by Ronald Reagan, she was the first woman to serve on the high court and was at its center in several high-profile cases.

By Jordan Rubin

Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has died at age 93, the Supreme Court said Friday.

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, she was the first woman to serve on the high court, from 1981 to 2006. She died “this morning in Phoenix, Arizona, of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness,” the court said in a news release.

The Republican appointee was at the center of the court in high-profile cases, including ones on elections, affirmative action and abortion. In Bush v. Gore, she sided with George W. Bush in the case that enabled his 2000 presidential victory over Al Gore. She also upheld affirmative action and abortion rights, both of which the court has since gutted.

She was replaced by Bush appointee Samuel Alito, one of the six Republican appointees on the current court. He wrote the Dobbs opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.

Jordan Rubin

Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MSNBC, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.