Obituary | A cowgirl on the bench

Sandra Day O’Connor specialised in breaking into male bastions

The first woman justice on America’s Supreme Court died on December 1st, aged 93

A portrait of Sandra Day O'Connor in 1982
Image: AP

That Arizona sun was hot, and Sandra Day, then a teenager, was in the high desert alone. She had taken the disreputable old Chevy pickup on a two-and-a-half-hour drive to where her father, and the cowboys of his 200,000-acre Lazy B ranch, were branding cattle. The chuck-wagon box held the lunch she had packed for them herself, coleslaw and potatoes and applesauce cake. But now the left rear tyre was totally flat.

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This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “A cowgirl on the bench”

From the December 9th 2023 edition

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