“I had become increasingly concerned in recent years about the lack of civics education in our nation’s schools. In recent years, the schools have stopped teaching it. And it’s unfortunate.”

~Sandra Day O’Connor

On this day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced that American attorney, politician, and jurist Sandra Day O’Connor was his choice as the first woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice O’Connor was formally nominated on August 19, 1981 and unanimously confirmed on September 21 of that year.