Editing Sandra Day O'Connor (section)

== Early career and marriage ==
[[File:Sandra Day O'Connor, 1974.jpg|thumb|O'Connor in 1974|left|236x236px]]
While in her final year at Stanford Law School, Day began dating [[John Jay O'Connor III]], who was one class year behind her.<ref name="Heilpern-2013" /><ref name="Thomas-2019" />{{Rp|39–40}} On December 20, 1952, six months after her graduation, O'Connor and Day married at her family's ranch.<ref name="San Mateo Daily Journal">{{cite news|url=https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/sandra-day-o-connor-s-peninsula-ties/article_f6d00d70-67a5-11e8-9bc3-a33b5eb945f0.html|title=Sandra Day O'Connor's Peninsula Ties|work=San Mateo Daily Journal|access-date=June 4, 2018 |archive-date=June 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607162102/https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/sandra-day-o-connor-s-peninsula-ties/article_f6d00d70-67a5-11e8-9bc3-a33b5eb945f0.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Thomas-2019" />{{Rp|50–51}}

Upon graduation from law school in 1952, O'Connor had difficulty finding a paying job as an attorney in a law firm because of her gender.<ref name="Haag-2018">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/us/politics/sandra-day-oconnor-dementia-alzheimers.html|title=Sandra Day O'Connor, First Woman on Supreme Court, Reveals Dementia Diagnosis|last=Haag|first=Matt|date=October 23, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 26, 2018|language=en|archive-date=October 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025173900/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/us/politics/sandra-day-oconnor-dementia-alzheimers.html|url-status=live}}</ref> O'Connor found employment as a deputy county attorney in [[San Mateo, California]], after she offered to work for no salary and without an office, sharing space with a secretary.<ref name="freshair">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/03/05/172982275/out-of-order-at-the-court-oconnor-on-being-the-first-female-justice|title='Out Of Order' At The Court: O'Connor On Being The First Female Justice|date=March 5, 2013|publisher=Fresh Air|access-date=March 5, 2013|archive-date=March 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306033357/http://www.npr.org/2013/03/05/172982275/out-of-order-at-the-court-oconnor-on-being-the-first-female-justice|url-status=live}}</ref> After a few months, she began drawing a small salary as she performed legal research and wrote memos.<ref name="Thomas-2019" />{{Rp|52}} She worked with [[San Mateo County]] [[District Attorney]] Louis Dematteis and deputy district attorney Keith Sorensen.<ref name="San Mateo Daily Journal" />

When her husband was drafted, O'Connor decided to go with him to work in Germany as a civilian attorney for the Army's [[Quartermaster Corps (United States Army)|Quartermaster Corps]].<ref>Baughman, J. (Ed.). (2001). O'Connor, Sandra Day 1930–. American Decades, 9. September 21, 2016.</ref> They remained there for three years before returning to the States where they settled in [[Maricopa County, Arizona]], and she started a law firm.<ref name="Kamen-1989" />  They had three sons: Scott (born 1958), Brian (born 1960), and Jay (born 1962).<ref name="The Washington Post-2009">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111119571.html|title=John J. O'Connor III, 79; husband of Supreme Court justice|date=November 12, 2009|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=October 4, 2012|archive-date=September 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913120148/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111119571.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kamen-1989" /> Following Brian's birth, O'Connor took a five-year hiatus from the practice of law.<ref name="Kamen-1989" />

She volunteered in various political organizations, such as the Maricopa County Young Republicans, and served on Arizona Senator [[Barry Goldwater]]'s [[Barry Goldwater 1964 presidential campaign|presidential campaign]] in 1964.<ref>Phelps, S. (Ed.). (2002). O'Connor, Sandra Day (1930– ). World of Criminal Justice, September 20, 2016.</ref><ref name="Kamen-1989" />

O'Connor served as assistant [[Attorney General of Arizona]] from 1965 to 1969.<ref name="Kamen-1989" /> In 1969, the governor of Arizona appointed O'Connor to fill a vacancy in the [[Arizona Senate]].<ref name="Kamen-1989" /> She ran for and won the election for the seat the following year.<ref name="Kamen-1989" /> By 1973, she became the first woman to serve as Arizona's or any state's [[majority leader]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://apps.azlibrary.gov/officials/Detail.aspx?ID=1047|title=LAPR – State Library of Arizona|website=apps.azlibrary.gov|access-date=March 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510102422/http://apps.azlibrary.gov/officials/Detail.aspx?ID=1047|archive-date=May 10, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Williams-2016">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/03/29/how-sandra-day-oconnor-became-the-most-powerful-woman-in-1980s-america/|title=How Sandra Day O'Connor became the most powerful woman in 1980s America|last1=Williams|first1=Marjorie|date=March 29, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 31, 2017|last2=Williams|first2=Marjorie|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=March 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330063935/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/03/29/how-sandra-day-oconnor-became-the-most-powerful-woman-in-1980s-america/|url-status=live}}</ref> She developed a reputation as a skilled negotiator and a moderate. After serving two full terms, O'Connor decided to leave the Senate.<ref name="Williams-2016" />

In 1974, O'Connor was appointed to the [[Maricopa County Superior Court]],<ref>{{cite web|title=General Election Canvass, 1974, p. 5|url=http://www.azsos.gov/sites/azsos.gov/files/canvass1974ge.pdf|website=Arizona Secretary of State|access-date=February 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221031035/https://www.azsos.gov/sites/azsos.gov/files/canvass1974ge.pdf|archive-date=December 21, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> serving from 1975 to 1979 when she was elevated to the [[Arizona Court of Appeals]]. 

In late 1977 and early 1978, she presided over an [[aggravated assault]] case against [[Clarence Dixon]], a 22-year-old [[Arizona State University]] student who had attacked a 15-year-old girl with a metal pipe. O'Connor would find Dixon [[not guilty by reason of insanity]] and have him remanded to a state hospital. In the four-day period between  O'Connor's ruling and Dixon's remanding to hospital, Dixon would rape and murder one of his seniors, 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin; he would not be arrested until 2001 when DNA evidence identified him, and he was executed for Bowdoin's murder in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |author1=<!-- not stated --> |title=Judge Rules That Arizona Death-Row Prisoner Who Had Been Previously Found Legally Insane Is Competent to Be Executed |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/judge-rules-that-arizona-death-row-prisoner-who-had-been-previously-found-legally-insane-is-competent-to-be-executed |website=Death Penalty Information Center |access-date=7 December 2024 |date=6 May 2022}}</ref>

She served on the Court of Appeals-Division One until 1981 when she was appointed to the Supreme Court by President [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.azcourts.gov/coa1/Former-Judges/SANDRA-D-OCONNOR|title=Sandra D. O'Connor|website=azcourts.gov|language=en-US|access-date=March 31, 2017|archive-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230005439/http://www.azcourts.gov/coa1/Former-Judges/SANDRA-D-OCONNOR|url-status=live}}</ref>