Who became the first woman to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?

Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor in 1981 to replace retiring Justice Potter Stewart. The Senate confirmed her unanimously, and she took her seat as an associate justice on September 25, 1981. Her appointment ended nearly two centuries in which the Supreme Court had consisted entirely of men.

O’Connor served until her retirement in 2006. She was often described as a moderate conservative and became an influential swing vote in closely divided cases. Her opinions addressed issues including federalism, affirmative action, abortion, and the separation of church and state.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman on the Court in 1993. O’Connor’s achievement is sometimes confused with the first woman to lead a state senate or the first woman appointed to another federal court; those distinctions belong to different figures. O’Connor also had an earlier political career in Arizona, where she became the first woman to serve as that state senate’s majority leader.