The dedication below appears in the Arizona State Law Journal (ASLJ) Winter 2024 issue. G&K associate attorney Erin Jenkins co-authored this dedication with Isabella Santos, the 2024-2025 editor in chief of the ASLJ, in honor of the late Justice O'Connor. In her final year of law school at ASU, Erin served as editor in chief of the ASLJ.
As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.
–Justice Sandra Day O’Connor1
The Arizona State Law Journal staff was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on December 1, 2023. We respectfully dedicate this issue of the Arizona State Law Journal to her memory.
Justice O’Connor, our law school’s namesake,2 was greatly respected and revered in the Arizona legal community well before she became a Supreme Court Justice. A longtime resident of Arizona, Justice O’Connor served our great state in many capacities: as an Assistant Attorney General, as a State Senator, as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge, and later, as a judge for the Arizona Court of Appeals.3 To the world, Justice O’Connor is remembered as the first woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court. But to Arizonans, Justice O’Connor’s legacy extends far beyond that; we also treasure her profound local influence on this community, which runs as deep as her national impact.4 Many scholars have eloquently recounted her extensive list of achievements.5 We will simply add that the
Arizona State Law Journal’s mission to publish thoughtful legal scholarship, particularly on issues relevant to Arizona law, was forever changed by Justice O’Connor’s service to this state in all three branches of its government.
We cannot pay tribute to Justice O’Connor without recognizing her monumental impact on the advancement of women in the legal community. As a dedicated mother and wife,6 Justice O’Connor demonstrated that commitment to family and success in the legal field—or indeed, in any industry—are not mutually exclusive. She defied expectations, was fearless in the face of adversity, and championed women’s rights throughout her career.7 As an Arizona legislator and the first woman in the nation to serve as a majority leader in a state legislature, Justice O’Connor worked to change several state laws that discriminated against women.8 Decades later on the Supreme Court, Justice O’Connor coauthored the plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey upholding a woman’s fundamental right to abortion.9 Throughout her career, she remained a committed mentor to her clerks and to numerous women judges. Her influence on women in the law is both multifaceted and far-reaching.
Since the Arizona State Law Journal’s inception in 1969, nearly half of our Editors-in-Chief have been women, and this marks the twelfth consecutive year in which women have held that title.10 For over a decade, women have overseen and directed the Journal’s production of legal scholarship and the development of hundreds of law students as Staff Writers and Editors. We have published countless female authors over the years, including five in this issue alone, and we are proud of the work the
Arizona State Law Journal has done to advance the prominence of women in legal discourse. But we could not have achieved these feats without the trailblazing work of Justice O’Connor.
In remembrance of Justice O’Connor, this issue of the Arizona State Law Journal has been specially curated with remarks and articles related to her life and legacy. We are honored to feature statements from the U.S. Supreme Court on Justice O’Connor’s passing, as well as remarks delivered by Justice Sonia Sotomayor during the Lying in Repose of Justice O’Connor at the Supreme Court on December 18, 2023. In addition, we are pleased to publish a eulogy honoring Justice O’Connor prepared by Justice Ruth McGregor, one of Justice O’Connor’s first clerks on the Supreme Court and a former Arizona Supreme Court Justice. Finally, this issue includes remarks presented in memory of Justice O’Connor at the 2024 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference by Senior Judge Mary Schroeder.11
These tributes are penned by individuals who knew Justice O’Connor over her long life and career as a colleague, mentor, or simply a friend. But a bright throughline emerges from each piece: Justice O’Connor was a woman of tremendous care. She cared about her professional and personal relationships, she cared about her work, she cared about civics education, and she cared about Arizona. We all benefit immensely from Justice O’Connor’s unrelenting dedication to the law, justice, and the advancement of women in the legal field and society at large.
During her lifetime, she empowered countless law students, lawyers, judges, legislators, and scholars, including current and former members of the Journal.12 Her legacy will continue to inspire others for many generations to come. For that, and on behalf of the entire Arizona State Law
Journal editorial staff: Thank you, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
- Sandra Day O’Connor, Just., Sup. Ct. of the U.S., Women in Power, Address at the
16th Annual Olin Conference (Nov. 14, 1990), https://library.oconnorinstitute.org/speecheswritings/
women-in-power [https://perma.cc/WU5U-3RZW]. ↩︎ - Justice O’Connor was a woman of many “firsts,” including being the first woman to
have a law school named after her. Lindsay Walker & Erik Ketcherside, Judicial Icon,
Groundbreaking Arizonan Sandra Day O’Connor Dies at 93, ARIZ. STATE UNIV. NEWS (Dec. 1,
2023), https://news.asu.edu/20231201-arizona-impact-judicial-icon-asu-law-namesake-sandraday-
oconnor-dies-93 [https://perma.cc/ZDA5-E8EB]. ↩︎ - Biography of Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, SUP. CT. U.S.,
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographyOconnor.aspx [https://perma.cc/238J-A9DS]. ↩︎ - See, e.g., Lauren Castle, Sandra Day O’Connor’s Legacy Seen Through Arizona’s
Schools, Buildings, AZ CENTRAL (Dec. 1, 2023, 9:00 PM), https://www.azcentral.com/story/
news/politics/arizona/2023/12/01/sandra-day-oconnors-legacy-seen-through-arizonas-schoolsbuildings/
1347475002 [https://perma.cc/9GX3-JER3]. ↩︎ - See, e.g., EVAN THOMAS, FIRST: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR (2019); JOAN BISKUPIC,
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR (2006); see also William Cracraft, Ninth Circuit Judges Reflect on the
Passing of Retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, U.S. CTS. FOR NINTH CIR. (Dec. 6,
2023), https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/circuit-executive/ninth-circuit-judges-reflect-on-thepassing-
of-retired-associate-justice-sandra-day-o-connor [https://perma.cc/3VNF-56M5]. For
information straight from the source, see SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR & CRAIG JOYCE, THE
MAJESTY OF THE LAW: REFLECTIONS OF A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (2003); SANDRA DAY
O’CONNOR & H. ALAN DAY, LAZY B: GROWING UP ON A CATTLE RANCH IN THE AMERICAN
SOUTHWEST (2002). ↩︎ - SUP. CT. U.S., supra note 3. ↩︎
- See id. ↩︎
- Id. ↩︎
- 505 U.S. 833 (1992), overruled by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S.
215 (2022). ↩︎ - Justice O’Connor herself was on the Board of Editors of her law school’s preeminent
law journal. Id. (select “Childhood and Education” on the left menu). In fact, that is how she
met her future husband; as Justice O’Connor wisely noted, “Beware of proofreading over a
glass of beer. . . . It can result in unexpected alliances.” Id. ↩︎ - Justice O’Conner served as the Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit from 1986 until
her retirement from the Supreme Court in 2006. O’Connor, Sandra Day, FED. JUD. CTR.,
https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/oconnor-sandra-day [https://perma.cc/TBG8-FVC4]. ↩︎ - In the 1950s, only two percent of law students were women. By the time Justice
O’Connor retired from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006, that statistic had risen to forty-eight
percent. See Sandra Day O’Connor, SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR INST. FOR AM. DEMOCRACY,
https://oconnorinstitute.org/civic-programs/oconnor-history/sandra-day-oconnor-policy-archives
-research-library/biography [https://perma.cc/J4XF-SNFN]. ↩︎
about our attorney
Erin T. Jenkins primarily focuses on probate, bankruptcy, employment, and litigation. During law school, Erin served as Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona State Law Journal and participated in various internships and externships, including two summers at G&K. Her hands-on experience includes contributing to litigation strategies, drafting legal documents, and working as a student attorney at the Indian Legal Clinic.