But I was not at all surprised that she used the occasion of sharing that fact to think of our country first, and to urge an increased commitment to civics education, a cause to which she devoted so much of her time and indomitable energy.” said in a statment that he was saddened to learn that O’Connor, “like many Americans, faces the challenge of dementia. Gorsuch has also participated in iCivics events, while Kennedy has also promoted civics education.Ĭhief Justice John G. In recognition of her lifetime accomplishments, President Barack Obama awarded her the Nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on. a web-based education project aimed at engaging middle school and high school students in civics. It is also the 39th anniversary of Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn in as the first female Supreme Court Justice. Sotomayor joined the board of iCivics in 2015, and Dubé said the justice’s service was just renewed for another three-year term. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006. SeptemToday marks Arizona’s inaugural Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Celebration Day a day in which a majority of in-person and online classroom instruction is devoted entirely to civics. The Associated Press reported this week that two of O’Connor’s sons, Jay and Brian, had cleared out their mother’s office at the Supreme Court, a chambers reserved for retired justices that has now been turned over to newly retired Justice Anthony M. “She was frail then, and getting tired more easily, but she was still very active,” Dubé said. I am very sad about the current state of her health.”ĭubé recalled that O’Connor was last in Washington for two events in 2015, including a tribute held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in which the three women who followed O’Connor onto the Supreme Court-Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan-were in attendance. “Not only did she found this organization, she made it a success,” Dubé said.

Louise Dubé, the executive director of iCivics, said in an interview Tuesday that O’Connor has been a “force of nature” and someone who did not take “no” for an answer as she pursued her cause. There is no more important work than deepening young people’s engagement in our nation.” “Today, iCivics reaches half the youth in our country,” O’Connor said in her letter to the public. Her efforts led to the 2009 creation of iCivics, a nonprofit that promotes learning about government through online games such as “We the Jury” and “Do I Have a Right?” “They are soon going to be the adults running the nation, and we want our nation to function,” O’Connor said in the interview. In 2009, O’Connor said in an interview with Education Week that her initial efforts were aimed at middle school students, because they were not yet bored with school.

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