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Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American jurist who was the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served from 1981 to 2006. Although she was considered a strict constructionist, her case-by-case approach to jurisprudence and her relatively moderate political views made her the crucial swing vote of the Court for many of her final years on the bench. She still objected to that characterization because she felt it painted her as an unprincipled jurist. In 2001, Ladies' Home Journal ranked her as the second most powerful woman in America. In 2004 and 2005 Forbes Magazine listed her as the sixth and thirty sixth most powerful woman in the world, respectively; the only American women preceding her on the list were National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and First Lady Laura Welch Bush. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she was a politician and jurist in Arizona. She was nominated to the Court by President Ronald Reagan and served for over twenty-four years. On July 1, 2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of her successor. Justice Samuel Alito, nominated to take her seat in October 2005, received confirmation on January 31, 2006. She is currently the Chancellor of the College of William and Mary.
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