Ex-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of Arizona to be honored with statue at US Capitol

PHOENIX – Statues honoring the first two women to sit on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court – Arizona’s Sandra Day O’Connor and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will be installed at the Capitol after women lawmakers, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, pushed the bipartisan bill.

“I join all Arizonans in celebrating our law that permanently places U.S. Capitol statues of Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, a fearless independent Arizonan, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg – both of whom inspire me and so many Americans in public service, law, and life,” Sinema (D-Ariz.) said in a press release Thursday.

The two women worked together from 1993 until O’Connor’s retirement in 2006.

President Joe Biden signed the legislation last week and thanked four senators, including Sinema, for their efforts.

Of the more than 200 statues on the Capitol grounds, only 14 are of women. The statues of the justices are expected to be placed, per the bill, “in a prominent location in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds.”

O’Connor, 92, grew up on an Arizona cattle ranch, was the first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court in 1981.

The Republican was nominated by President Ronald Reagan.

O’Connor announced in October 2018 that she was suffering from dementia that had been diagnosed some time ago.

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