'Sandra Day OConnor' (born March 26, 1930) is an American jurist. She served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 until her retirement from the bench in 2005. The first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, she was in some cases a crucial swing vote for many years due to her case-by-case approach to jurisprudence and her somewhat moderate political views. However, during her time on the Court, she voted with Justice Rehnquist more than with any other justice.

Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was a politician and jurist in Arizona. OConnor was nominated to the Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. On July 1, 2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of a successor. President George W. Bush nominated Justice Samuel Alito to take her seat in October 2005. O'Connor left the Court upon Alito's commissioning by President George W. Bush on January 31, 2006.See 163 L. Ed. 2d cvi. She is currently the Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, and also currently serves on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the second most powerful woman in America. In 2004 and 2005, Forbes'' magazine listed her as the sixth and thirty-sixth most powerful woman in the world, respectively; the only American women preceding her on the list were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and First Lady Laura Bush.