Watch Justice Sandra Day O'Connor’s Teacher Seminar on the Anniversary of Her Swearing In

Sandra Day O'Connor, ca. 1982 (Library of Congress)On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice in the United States when she was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger. She had been nominated by President Ronald Reagan. She retired in 2006.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993, was the second woman to be sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

In 2008, Sandra Day O’Connor led “The History of the Judiciary,” a special Gilder Lehrman Teacher Seminar in Washington, DC.

Sandra Day O'Connor: An Overview of Key Moments in the Separation of Powers and the Supreme Court from The Gilder Lehrman Institute.