The Senate confirmed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 99–0.
President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor on July 7, 1981, to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart. Reagan had promised during his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the Court's first woman, and O’Connor became the nominee who fulfilled that pledge.
The Senate confirmed her on September 21, 1981. The vote was unanimous among the 99 senators present; Senator Max Baucus of Montana was absent. Her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was also the first televised confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice.
O’Connor took her seat on September 25, 1981, and served until her retirement in 2006. She often occupied a pivotal position in closely divided decisions. Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman to serve on the Court in 1993, ending O’Connor's period as its only female justice.