O’Connor sworn in as first female Supreme Court Justice

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sandra W.R JON Day O’Connor raised her right hand and swore the oath of office today as the 102nd American – and the first woman – to sit on the Supreme Court. Justice O’Connor, an Arizona appeals court judge before she was picked to become an associate justice of the nation’s highest court, promised to uphold the Constitution and “faithfully discharge the duties of my office.” Asked by Burger if she were ready to take her oath, Mrs. O’Connor replied in a steady voice: “I am.” With her right hand aloft and her left hand on a Bible, Mrs. O’Connor completed the oath flawlessly. Burger was the first to call her “Justice O’Connor” as he welcomed her to the court. President Reagan, who broke a 191-year, all-male tradition when he appointed Justice O’Connor to the lifetime job, was among more than 500 people present as Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the oath of office. The ceremony began as Mrs. O’Connor was ushered into the marble and mahogany courtroom and was seated before the bench in a chair used by Chief Justice John Marshall during his 1801- 1835 tenure. After taking the oath, Justice O’Connor was helped into her judicial robe and led to the seat traditionally occupied by the court’s most junior justice – to the far right of the bench as viewed from the courtroom. In a switch from the 1975 swearing-in of Justice John Paul Stevens, the oath administered in the courtroom to Mrs. O’Connor was one Stevens and at least two of his predecessors had