Former Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lie in repose Monday at the Supreme Court so the public can pay their respects Monday morning before her funeral tomorrow at Washington National Cathedral.
The Supreme Court said a private ceremony would take place at 9:30 a.m. ET before O’Connor would be visible from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. inside the building’s Great Hall.
O’Connor, who was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died in Phoenix on December 1 at the age of 93. The Court said O’Connor failed due to “complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness.”
O’Connor is remembered as a woman who made history, a pragmatic conservative, a sharp legal mind and a beloved mother and grandmother.
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR, FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE, DEATH AT 93
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor poses for a photograph in 1982. O’Connor, who joined the Supreme Court in 1981 as the country’s first female justice, died Dec. 1 at age 93 . (AP Photo)
She was appointed to the Court in 1981 by former President Reagan. O’Connor resigned from her position in 2006, but remained an active and public voice for a variety of causes, including judicial independence and civic education.
In 2018, the then 88-year-old woman revealed in a letter made public that she was in the early stages of dementia.
REAGAN HISTORIAN LOOKS BACK AT O’CONNOR APPOINTMENT
Sandra Day O’Connor and then-Chief Justice Warren Burger pose for photographs at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on September 25, 1981. (AP Photo)
Following her death, current Supreme Court justices praised O’Connor as a pioneer, an “American hero” and “enormously influential.”
“Sandra Day O’Connor, daughter of the American Southwest, blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female justice. She met that challenge with unwavering determination, unquestioned ability, and disarming candor,” said Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. .in a statement.
Sandra Day O’Connor appears before swearing in members of the Texas Supreme Court on January 6, 2003, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
“I mourn the passing of another American hero. When Sandra Day O’Connor, the ‘Western Cowgirl,’ became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, she changed the world and made history,” added Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “In fact, her entire life was groundbreaking. She served in all three branches of government, was a brilliant advocate for women’s rights, and promoted civic education in a way that transformed the way children learn about our shared responsibility as citizens”.
Fox News’ Bill Mears, Shannon Bream and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
