Who was the first woman to serve as a justice of the United States Supreme Court?

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve as a justice of the United States Supreme Court.

President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor in 1981, and the Senate confirmed her unanimously. She took her seat on September 25, 1981, becoming the Court’s first female justice nearly two centuries after the Constitution created the federal judiciary.

O’Connor often occupied a pivotal position in closely divided cases and was associated with a pragmatic, case-by-case approach. Her opinions addressed subjects including abortion, affirmative action, federalism, and the separation of church and state.

She retired in 2006 and was succeeded by Samuel Alito. Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 1993. O’Connor’s appointment marked a major institutional milestone, though the Court did not have a second woman justice for more than a decade.