WASHINGTON — All nine of the Supreme Court’s current justices and Vice President Kamala Harris paid their respects Monday to the late Sandra Day O’Connor, the court’s first female member.
The justices, joined by the retired Anthony Kennedy, stood to greet the trailblazing jurist’s remains inside the court’s Great Hall after her casket was carried up the front stairs facing the Capitol.
Harris, the country’s first female vice president, entered the hall shortly before noon alongside her husband Douglas Emhoff. The 59-year-old Harris clasped her hands and bowed her head for a moment before the casket.
The procession of dignitaries was interrupted briefly by a commotion after a member of the uniformed honor guard appeared to faint. A colleague caught the woman as she collapsed. Her condition was not immediately known.
All nine Supreme Court justices paid their remarks to Sandra Day O’Connor. From left, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. APO’Connor’s body will lie in repose outside the nation’s most powerful courtroom before a Tuesday funeral at the National Cathedral, where President Biden and Chief Justice John Roberts will speak.
At a private ceremony attended by the justices, Kennedy, and O’Connor’s family and court colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor recalled O’Connor saying: “It was good to be the first, but I don’t want to be the last.”
“For the four of us, and for so many others of every background and aspiration, Sandra was a living example that women could take on any challenge, could more than hold their own in any spaces dominated by men and could do so with grace,” said Sotomayor, referring to herself and her three colleagues on the court — Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.
O’Connor’s body will lie in repose outside the nation’s most powerful courtroom before a Tuesday funeral at the National Cathedral, where President Biden will deliver a eulogy. Getty ImagesO’Connor died Dec. 1 at age 93 after serving as a closely watched swing vote on the highest court in the land from 1981 through January 2006.
President Ronald Reagan nominated O’Connor less than six months into his first term to replace the retiring Potter Stewart, keeping one of his 1980 campaign pledges, and she was confirmed 99-0 by the Senate.
Biden, then a senator from Delaware, was among those who voted in favor of the Republican nominee.
Former law clerks for retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wait for the arrival of the casket of O’Connor at the Supreme Court in Washington DC on Monday. Alex Brandon/UPI/Shutterstock
The flag-draped casket of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor arrives at the Supreme Court. APO’Connor was an Arizona appeals court judge before joining the country’s top court and was a Republican state senator from 1969 to 1975 — becoming in 1973 the first woman to serve as a state senate’s majority leader.
As a justice, O’Connor often cast the deciding vote in key cases, including in 2000’s Bush v. Gore, when the court ended Florida’s recount of presidential ballots and confirmed Republican George W. Bush’s victory over Democrat Al Gore by 537 votes in the Sunshine State — ensuring Bush’s Electoral College triumph.
The casket of Sandra Day O’Connor arrives at the Supreme Court. AFP via Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s casket is brought inside the Great Hall at the Supreme Court. via REUTERS
Sandra Day O’Connor lies in repose in the Great Hall at the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. via REUTERSO’Connor also sided with the majority in landmark cases such as 2003’s Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated state laws against same-sex sexual conduct, and in 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld the federal right to an abortion.
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff pause in front of the casket . AP
O’Connor died Dec. 1 at age 93 after serving as a closely watched swing vote on the highest court in the land from 1981 through January 2006. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson talks with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy before the ceremony. AP
People pay their respects before the portrait of the late retired US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on Monday. POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesThe latter ruling was overturned by the court last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, with the majority opinion authored by O’Connor’s successor, Justice Samuel Alito.
O’Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court in 2005. After leaving the bench, she served as the chancellor of the College of William and Mary — a figurehead role once filled by George Washington — for seven years.
Her husband, John O’Connor, died in 2009 after a long decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease.
With Post wires
