QUESTIONS:
1. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, recently announced her retirement. What other first did Mrs. O’Connor achieve in her professional career?
2. What justice of the Supreme Court did Sandra Day O’Connor succeed?
3. There are strong rumors that Chief Justice William Rehnquist will soon follow O’Connor and retire, thus giving President Bush two appointments to the Supreme Court at once. Who was the last President to have two simultaneous appointments to the Court?
4. Before O’Connor, who was the last justice of the Supreme Court to retire?
5. Before O’Connor, who was the last Supreme Court justice to be a former elected official?
ANSWERS:
1. In 1972, as majority leader of the Arizona Senate, she became the first woman to be leader of a party in any state legislature.
2. Potter Stewart, who served from 1957 until his retirement in 1981.
3. Richard Nixon, who was President in 1971 when Justices John Marshall Harlan and Hugo L. Black retired at the same time.
4. Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who retired in 1994 and was succeeded by Justice Stephen Breyer.
5. Justice Lewis F. Powell, who served on the court from 1971-87 had been a member of the Richmond, Va., Board of Education from 1952-61.
