Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the 102nd justice, becoming the first woman ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the 102nd justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first woman ever to serve on the Court in its 191‑year history.
In a ceremony led by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, O’Connor took the judicial oath and assumed her seat on the bench. For nearly two centuries, the Supreme Court had been an exclusively male institution, reflecting broader exclusion of women from the upper echelons of the legal profession. Her swearing‑in therefore carried profound symbolic weight: images of O’Connor in her black robe circulated widely, transforming public expectations about who could sit on the nation’s highest court.
The event marked not just a personal achievement but a watershed for women in law and public life. It validated the work of generations of women lawyers who had fought for admission to bar associations, clerkships, and judgeships, often in the face of overt discrimination. O’Connor’s presence on the Court also influenced institutional culture—she hired diverse clerks, brought a pragmatic, case‑by‑case approach to decision‑making, and fostered collegiality among justices.
Her swearing‑in paved the way for future women on the Court and contributed to a broader reimagining of the judiciary as a more representative branch of government. It stands as one of the most important gender‑breaking milestones in American constitutional history.