Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court’s First Woman, Dies at 93 (1)

Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the decisive vote on abortion, religion, race and other hot-button social issues during a history-making tenure as the first woman on the US Supreme Court, has died. She was 93.

She died Friday morning in Phoenix, Arizona, of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, the court announced. In 2018, at age 88, she announced that she had been diagnosed with dementia and would be stepping away from public activities.

Sandra Day O’Connor in 2002.

Photographer: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

Appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981, O’Connor served on the high court for 24 years while Republicans dominated the ...