President Reagan Appoints the First Female Supreme Court Justice
On July 7, 1981, 29 years ago today, President Ronald Reagan made good on a campaign promise he had made during the 1980 Presidential election campaign. Reagan had promised to appoint the first woman to the United States Supreme Court and on July 7, 1981 he nominated Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, to replace the retiring Potter Stewart.
Initially, the move wasn't a popular one in all circles. Pro-life and religious groups opposed O'Connor's nomination because they believed that she would not be willing to overturn Roe v Wade. A number of U.S. Senate Republicans, including Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Steve Symms of Idaho, and Jesse Helms of North Carolina called the White House to express their discontent over the nomination. Nickles said he and "other pro-family Republican senators would not support" O'Connor. One of O'Connor's biggest supporters was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who promised a fight to anyone who opposed the nomination of his fellow Arizonan.
O'Connor wisely refused to telegraph her views on abortion, and she was careful not to leave the impression that she supported abortion rights. She told Reagan that she did not remember whether she had voted to repeal Arizona's law banning abortion. However, she had cast a preliminary vote in the Arizona State Senate in 1970 in favor of a bill to repeal the state's criminal-abortion statute. In 1974, O'Connor had voted against a measure to prohibit abortions in some Arizona hospitals.
Reagan wrote in his diary on July 6, 1981: "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for supreme court. Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. Right to Life people say she is pro abortion. She says abortion is personally repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice."
On September 21, O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99–0. In her first year on the Court she received over 60,000 letters from the public, more than any other justice in history. She retired from the court in 2005.
Below is an exerpt from the documentary "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater" which recounts this issue.
Initially, the move wasn't a popular one in all circles. Pro-life and religious groups opposed O'Connor's nomination because they believed that she would not be willing to overturn Roe v Wade. A number of U.S. Senate Republicans, including Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Steve Symms of Idaho, and Jesse Helms of North Carolina called the White House to express their discontent over the nomination. Nickles said he and "other pro-family Republican senators would not support" O'Connor. One of O'Connor's biggest supporters was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who promised a fight to anyone who opposed the nomination of his fellow Arizonan.
O'Connor wisely refused to telegraph her views on abortion, and she was careful not to leave the impression that she supported abortion rights. She told Reagan that she did not remember whether she had voted to repeal Arizona's law banning abortion. However, she had cast a preliminary vote in the Arizona State Senate in 1970 in favor of a bill to repeal the state's criminal-abortion statute. In 1974, O'Connor had voted against a measure to prohibit abortions in some Arizona hospitals.
Reagan wrote in his diary on July 6, 1981: "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for supreme court. Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. Right to Life people say she is pro abortion. She says abortion is personally repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice."
On September 21, O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99–0. In her first year on the Court she received over 60,000 letters from the public, more than any other justice in history. She retired from the court in 2005.
Below is an exerpt from the documentary "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater" which recounts this issue.