Photos: Sandra Day O'Connor through the years
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, has died. She was 93. Here's a look back at her career, in photos.
Judge Sandra Day O’Connor, speaking before senate hearing on her nomination to U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 1981. (AP Photo)
Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O'Connor speaks while appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sept. 9, 1981, during her confirmation hearings. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor makes a point while talking with students at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law Wednesday, May 14, 2003, in Louisville, Ky. The forum covered a wide range of topics including improvements to the jury system, hard work and growing older. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor pauses during a "constitutional conversation" with fellow justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer at the National Archives on Thursday, April 21, 2005 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Sandra Day O’Connor, of Arizona, sits with Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., speaking before senate hearing on her nomination to U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 1981. (AP Photo)
Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), and Supreme Court nominee Judge Sandra Day O’Connor chat prior to the start of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sept. 9, 1981 on Capitol Hill in Washington. O’Connor is a judge in the state of Arizona. (AP Photo)
Supreme Court Justice-designate Sandra Day O’Connor, right, poses with first lady Nancy Reagan, Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger and President Ronald Reagan during a reception for U.S. Apellate Court judges at the White House in Washington, Sept. 24, 1981.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor pauses after addressing a meeting of Pennsylvania judges and lawyers in Harrisburg, Pa., Wednesday, Sept., 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor chats with other lawyers before addressing the American Bar Association members conference on Saturday, August 4, 1984 in Chicago. O’Connor told the group that an ABA task force report shows that case loads can be reduced if judges take more active roles in trial proceedings. At right is FBI Director William Webster. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
President Barack Obama presents the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sandra Day O?Connor who was the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, serving from 1981 until her retirement in 2006, during ceremonies at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
From left, Diane Sawyer, the honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, are seen on stage at the Women's Conference Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2003 file photo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is shown before administering the oath of office to members of the Texas Supreme Court in Austin, Texas. NPR’s “Morning Edition” reports author Evan Thomas found former Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist's letter to O’Connor while researching his upcoming book, “First.” The two dated while students at Stanford Law School in the early 1950s. They had broken up, but remained friends. Rehnquist graduated and in a March 29 letter, wrote: "To be specific, Sandy, will you marry me this summer?" She said no. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File )
FILE - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor hold up a copy of the U.S. constitution that she carries with her Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005 at an open-air Immigration and Naturalization citizenship hearing in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O'Connor raises her right hand to be sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 9, 1981. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor drives past photographers as she arrives for her first day of work at the Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 5, 1981. The first Monday in October is the traditional opening day of the high court. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)
Michelle Hancock, of Lakeside, Ariz., left, who took part in the National Spelling Bee this week in Washington, pays a visit to Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in her office on Friday, June 4, 1982 at the high court in Washington. (AP Photo)
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O?Connor, left, with Justice Byron White, chat with Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), center, May 1, 1985 on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to appearing before a Senate subcommittee on the Judiciary to address the budget requirements of the Supreme Court for fiscal year 1986. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)
President Corazon Aquino (right) sits with U.S. Supreme Court associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, during the courtesy call on Thursday, Sept. 3, 1987 at Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines by Association of Southeast Asian Nations Conference of Women Judges of which Justice O’Connor is the guest. President Aquino thanked the judges for coming to the country despite the coup last week. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor poses for a photo in the Supreme Court Building, Washington, April 15, 1988. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who will turn 60 this week, and is known as a hard-working and strong-willed Supreme Court justice, is arguably the nation’s most powerful woman, shown March 22, 1990. O’Connor is the high court’s first and only women justice. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)
Supreme Court Justices gather at the court for a formal portrait in Washington, Nov. 1, 1991. From left are, Clarence Thomas, David Souter, Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O’Connor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Harry Blackmun, Byron White, and Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Ken Heinen)
Minerva Award recipients, from left, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sister Terry Dodge, and Oprah Winfrey are seen during the Women's Conference Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
The Supreme Court says retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the high court, died Friday. She was 93.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, an unwavering voice of moderate conservatism and the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court, died Friday. She was 93.
The moderate conservative raised on an Arizona ranch leaves legacy of collaboration, collegiality. She died Friday of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness.
She struggled to get a legal job after graduating from law school in the 1950s, then lived to see four women serve at the same time on the Supreme Court.