First by Evan Thomas

FIRST by Evan Thomas is a brand new biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, confirmed by a 99 – 0 vote as the first women Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  Thomas, who has won awards for previous work, describes O’Connor’s childhood on a ranch in Arizona as well as her student days.  He shares information about how she and William Rehnquist dated and even discussed marriage. But what seems even more astounding today is that in the early 1950s O’Connor was not invited to interview with the big firms recruiting on the Stanford campus; that was despite being a Stanford Law Review editor and in the top 10 percent of her law school class. 

Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, O’Connor had a very supportive husband; she and John were married in 1952, had three sons, and were considered a “power couple” who gradually became more involved in Arizona politics and judicial system. Thomas provides details about O’Connor’s time serving in the Arizona state Senate (eventually as Majority Leader) and as a judge at the state trial appellate level prior to her 1981 Supreme Court appointment. He argues that those early practical, political experiences influenced her subsequent decisions.  Thomas indicates that O’Connor did work in an incremental, compromising manner to change discriminatory laws, but he also probes some controversies, including her rather tepid reaction to Roe v Wade and various related legislative proposals on abortion. FIRST is an extremely well-researched (including references to interviews with many of her clerks, friends and family members, plus Supreme Court records) and an engaging read, particularly for those interested in opportunities for women and the history of US jurisprudence during the second half of the 20th and the early 21st centuries.  FIRST received a starred review from Library Journal.