The Career of Sandra Day O'Connor
Unanimously Confirmed
Ultimately, O'Connor was confirmed by a unanimous senate vote to make her the first female supreme court justice. In this picture, she is swarmed by press shortly after her September 21, 1981 confirmation as a justice of the Supreme Court. To her left, she is accompanied by Barry Goldwater; to her right, republican senator Strom Thurmond, who was a noteworthy ally of the justice during her confirmation hearings despite his conservative reputation. While some conservative opposition had presented itself, based on her mixed history of legislation on abortion rights and support for the Equal Rights amendment, many republicans in the Senate approved of Reagan's choice of judicial nominee; she was deferential to other branches of government, tough on criminal cases, and constitutionally conservative in her judicial opinions.