BY NBC NEWS
Washington, DC At the groundbreaking of the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s funeral on Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts and President Joe Biden will provide eulogies.
Being the first female justice on the Supreme Court, he truly broke new ground. As a moderate on the conservative court, she also had a significant influence for many years.
He passed away on December 1st, aged 93.
Commencing at 11 a.m. ET, the funeral service will be held in Washington National Cathedral, the site of numerous other ceremonies involving well-known people.
He was a member of the cathedral’s governing body and frequently attended services there.
The late justice’s three sons, Jay O’Connor and her biographer Evan Thomas, will also be speaking.
On Monday, the public had the opportunity to pay their respects to her while she lay in repose in the Supreme Court. During a brief morning ceremony, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called O’Connor a “life role model.”
He was a pivotal swing vote on the then-closely divided court for many years before retiring in 2006, having been appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. She frequently made the deciding decision in the most contentious cases.
Her legacy has unraveled due to the court’s recent further rightward tilt. A conservative majority of 6-3 has overturned several of the moderate decisions she helped construct, including the 1992 decision that upheld the right to abortion.
