Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman on the Supreme Court, dies

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  O'Connor during her college years. At age 10, she was sent away to school in El Paso, and at age 16 she enrolled at Stanford, eventually graduating from law school third in her class.

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  Justice Sandra Day O'Connor poses for photos on the steps of the Supreme Court before being sworn in with her family on Sept. 26, 1981. From left are: Justice O'Connor's father, Harry Day; her husband, John J. O'Connor; her mother, Ada Mae Day; O'Connor; Chief Justice Warren Burger; and her sons, Brian, Jay and Scott.

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  Bob Daugherty/AP
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  This is a 1982 official portrait of the Supreme Court. Seated, from left, are Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan Jr., Chief Justice Warren Burger, Byron White and Harry Blackmun. Standing, from left: John Paul Stevens, Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O' Connor.

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  O'Connor and her husband, John J. O'Connor, visit the Great Wall of China on Aug. 28, 1987.

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  O'Connor listens to questions on Oct. 16, 1999, at Stanford University during an open discussion regarding the influence of the Supreme Court on other countries' constitutional systems. O'Connor, as well as Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer, all Stanford graduates, attended the discussion as part of Stanford's alumni week festivities.

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  O'Connor autographs a copy of her book Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest after giving a speech on her first day of retirement from the court at the Kerr Cultural Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Feb. 1, 2006.

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  President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to O'Connor, who served on the Supreme Court from 1981 until her retirement in 2006, during ceremonies at the White House on Aug. 12, 2009.

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  O'Connor holds a copy of the Constitution before a recitation of the preamble at the National Constitution Center on Sept. 16, 2011, in Philadelphia. The next day marked the 224th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.

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Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the court, died Friday in Phoenix, Ariz., of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer's, and a respiratory illness, the court announced. She was 93 years old.

O'Connor was appointed to the court by President Reagan in 1981 and retired in 2006, after serving more than 24 years on the court.