Sandra Day O’Connor Is Celebrated as a ‘Trailblazer’

One adjective was invoked more than any other to describe Sandra Day O’Connor immediately after her death at 93 on Friday: “trailblazing.”

Justice O’Connor, the first woman on the United States Supreme Court, paved the way for generations of women in politics and law. Raised on a remote Arizona ranch, Justice O’Connor was remembered as much for being first as for her rugged independence on the court.

Shortly after her death was announced by the Supreme Court, public figures from across the political spectrum praised Justice O’Connor on social media for her fearlessness, both in crashing through the judiciary’s glass ceiling and in casting swing votes on some of the nation’s most polarizing cultural issues, including abortion and affirmative action.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a fellow conservative, whose voting record on the court often echoes Justice O’Connor’s, praised her on Friday as a “fiercely independent defender of the rule of law.”

Women and organizations that advocate for women’s empowerment were also quick to eulogize Justice O’Connor.

The tennis legend Billie Jean King, whose activism won equal prize money for men and women at the U.S. Open half a century ago, called Justice O’Connor a “trailblazing inspiration.” The Girl Scouts proudly identified her as an alum.

Others praised her for how she wielded her considerable power from her seat at the court’s center, where she sought to stake out middle ground based on her reading of current events and the public mood.

“Because she was so often the pivotal swing vote, how she came down on an issue usually determined which way the Court would rule,” the actor George Takei wrote on social media. “Though I often disagreed with her, the moderate conservatism she espoused seems almost liberal by today’s standards.”