President Joe Biden and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered eulogies at the Washington National Cathedral today during former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s funeral service. O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, and died on December 1 from complications of respiratory illness and dementia.
Biden said of O’Connor, “Gracious and wise, civil and principled, Sandra Day O’Connor daughter of the American west was a pioneer in her own right, breaking down the barriers of the legal and political worlds and the nations consciousness.”
Roberts said of O’Connor’s accomplishments, “In nearly a quarter century on the court she was a strong, influential, and iconic jurist, her leadership shaped the legal profession, making it obvious that judges are both women and men. The time when women were not on the bench seems so far away because Justice O’Connor was so good when she was on the bench. She was so successful that the barriers she broke down are almost unthinkable today.”
During his eulogy for his mother, Jay O’Connor read a passage in a final letter written by his mother to her sons: “Our purpose in life is to help others along the way. May you each try to do the same.”
