Sandra Day O'Connor
Serving on the highest court in the country
On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1985, O'Connor quietly donated the robe she wore to the ceremony—the robe that symbolized a milestone in her judicial career and in women’s history—to the National Museum of American History. In her 25 years on the Supreme Court, she earned a reputation as a pragmatic centrist voice by judging each case on its individual merits and specializing in narrowly crafted opinions.
Sandra Day O'Connor
Object Details
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Date
- 2006
- Object number
- NPG.2008.87
- Exhibition Label
- Born Duncan, Arizona
- In 1981, President Ronald Reagan fulfilled a campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court by nominating Arizona lawyer and judge Sandra Day O'Connor to a seat on the bench. After announcing the nomination, Reagan wrote in his diary, "Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. . . . I think that she'll make a good justice." O'Connor served from 1981 to her retirement in 2006 and left a reputation as a conscientious associate justice, one inclined toward narrowly based judgments rendered on a case-by-case basis, thereby avoiding setting sweeping precedents. A lifelong Republican, O'Connor came to the court after a career in the law and politics in both Arizona and California
- This portrait, along with twenty-four others by an equal number of artists, was created on October 10, 2006, when O'Connor agreed to be the model for a longstanding informal painting group that meets weekly in New York City.
- Provenance
- The artist; gift 2008 to NPG
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jean Marcellino
- Artist
- Jean Marcellino, born 1938
- Sitter
- Sandra Day O'Connor, born 26 Mar 1930
- Topic
- Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
- Costume\Robe
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Female
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Law and Law Enforcement\Lawyer
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Law and Law Enforcement\Judge\Justice\US Supreme Court Justice
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Education\Administrator\University\Chancellor
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Politics and Government\State Senator\Arizona
- Sandra Day O'Connor: Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Portrait
- Medium
- Oil on linen
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 50.8 x 40.6cm (20 x 16")
- Frame: 61.9 x 51.8 x 5.1cm (24 3/8 x 20 3/8 x 2")
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © 2008, Jean Marcellino
- Type
- Painting
- Metadata Usage
- Usage conditions apply
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2008.87
Sandra Day O'Connor
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