Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Announces she has Been Diagnosed with Dementia

Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor revealed on Tuesday that she has been diagnosed with the “beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease.” Chief Justice John Roberts praised O’Connor in a statement Tuesday as a “role model not only for girls and women, but for all those committed to equal justice under law.”

O’Connor, now 88, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 as the first female Supreme Court justice of the United States. She retired from the bench in 2006, in part to care for her husband, who was ailing from Alzheimer’s. She also announced that she will be stepping away from public life and her leadership role with iCivics, the website she launched that is dedicated to encouraging young people to learn civics.

“In all aspects of her life Justice O’Connor has been a transparent leader, and being forthcoming about her diagnosis is another demonstration of this,” the Alzheimer’s Association said in a statement. “We commend Justice O’Connor for bravely sharing her diagnosis and increasing awareness about this devastating disease.”

See Ariane de Vogue & Veronica Stracqualursi, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Announces she has Been Diagnosed with Dementia, CNN, October 23, 2018.