I wonder if anyone knows the story of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan. He promised to appoint the first woman. And she retired in 2006. Many conservatives hated her, and called her radical and liberal, because she changed her vote on things like abortion and gay rights. But O'Connor was a Republican and conservative. From Arizona, and involved in politics as a legislator and judge there. And when she joined the court, she aligned herself with William Rehnquist. Rehnquist was considered the most conservative member of the court at the time, and was famous for being the lone dissenter in many cases that even the conservatives concurred on. Wikipedia says that O'Connor voted with Rehnquist 87-93% of the time, until 1998. In fact for most of her time on the court, she voted with Rehnquist. More than with any other justice, Wikipedia says. Then in 2000, she joined the majority opinion in Bush v. Gore, basically handing the election to Bush instead of Gore, even though some people thought the court didn't have the power to do that. I still remember, they said in the news she probably did that because she wanted George W. Bush to replace her with an original intent justice. During her term on the Court, O'Connor was regarded as one of the most powerful women in the world. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 by President Barack Obama.
