American attorney and first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Sandra Day O’Connor finished Stanford Law school at age 20. She started in politics as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona (1965 - 1969) then moved on to serve in the Arizona State Senate, and was the first woman to serve as that state’s majority leader. In 1974, O’Connor served on the Maricopa County Superior Court then the Arizona Court of Appeals until moving to the US Supreme Court in 1981, retiring from that position in 2006. A moderate Republican, O’Connor was often the swing vote on the Supreme Court. She was awarded the Presidential Medal in 2009 of Freedom by President Obama.