O’Connor Confirmed as first Woman on Supreme Court

The Senate confirmed Sandra D. O’Connor as the first woman U.S. Supreme Court justice yesterday by a vote of 99 to 0. O’Connor will be sworn in Friday as the 102nd justice of the court. At 51, she will be the youngest member of a court now dominated by men in their late 60s and early 70s, a court assembled by six different presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and now, Ronald Reagan. I. The historic Senate action came early yesterday evening without real debate. Only one senator, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), did not THE WASHINGTON POST vote. Baucus has been a strong supporter of the nomination but was in Montana when the roll call was taken. The only issue of the day was which senator could sing the highest, longest and moet effusive praises for O’Connor and President Reagan. And thus what began in July as one of the president’s moet controversial decisions ended as one of his least difficult encounters with Congress. Some suspense had remained about whether a few senators might cast negative votes or abstain because of opposition to O’Connor from antiabortion forces. But even that doubt was swept away by O’Connor’s performance in confirmation hearings, lobbying by Reagan and an increasingly evident desire among a few undecided to avoid spoiling the party. “Some colleagues said I’d be laughed out of the Senate if I voted against her,” Sen. Jeremiah Denton (R-Ala.) said in an interview before casting his vote for confirmation. Denton, a staunch antiabortion senator who