Former justice of the United States Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor, died this Friday at the age of 93. O’Connor was the first woman in occupy the position of magistrate in the Supreme Court.

O’Connor died in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday “due to complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory disease”the US Supreme Court noted in a statement.

The judge was appointed to the Court by the Republican president Ronald Reagan and served from 1981 to 2006, when she retired to care for her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer’s. The then president, George W. Bush, nominated Justice Samuel Alito – who remains in office – to fill his seat.

Before an ideologically divided court, her independence (albeit from a moderate conservative stance) meant that her vote was fundamental in important litigation and that she was considered a one of the most powerful women of her time.

He was an icon in the conquest of the women’s rights and the pioneer in a Supreme Court composed of nine judges, which in total has seen only six women in the entire history of the United States.

After his retirement from the Supreme Court, January 31, 2006Judge O’Connor remained active as defender of judicial independence and the rule of law around the world.

During those years, she focused her work on the organization she created, iCivics, to promote civic knowledge and engagement, especially so that all American citizens understand the Constitution.

All this until October 2018 when he announced that he had dementia and decided abandon public life.

Presidential Medal of the Freedom

In recognition of his life’s achievements, the President Barack Obama granted to Judge O’Connor the highest civilian honor in the country, the Presidential Medal of Freedomon August 12, 2009.

Graduated in Law from Stanford University, some of her most notable decisions were her vote in the case ‘Planned Parenthood v. Casey’a 1992 opinion that reaffirmed a woman’s right to abortion.

Or a 2004 court ruling against the administration’s detainee policy George W. Bush after 9/11in which he opined that “a state of war is not a blank check.”