Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to wield the deciding vote between the court’s conservative and liberal wings and displayed a knack for moderation and compromise that sat well with the broad American

History-making Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the first woman on the nation’s highest court in 1981 and spent the next quarter-century as a pivotal figure in an oft-divided panel,

Sandra Day O’Connor, who made American history by becoming the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, has died, according to reports. The Supreme Court cited the late justice’s cause of death as complications due to dementia. O’Connor was 93.

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died at age 93, the court announced Friday.

Since her retirement in 2006, the court has dismantled her key rulings on abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance.