Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is a retired Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to her appointment to the Court, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader in the United States as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. 1981, Reagan - who had pledged during his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Court - announced he would nominate O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Considered a federalist and a moderate conservative, she tended to approach each case narrowly without arguing for sweeping precedents. She most frequently sided with the court's conservative bloc, although in the latter years of her tenure, she was regarded as having the swing opinion in many cases. Her unanimous confirmation by the Senate in 1981 was supported by most conservatives, led by Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, and liberals, including Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and women's rights groups like the National Organization for Women. She served from 1981 until her retirement in 2006. O'Connor was Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in Virginia, and currently serves on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Pennsylvania. Several publications have named O'Connor among the most powerful women in the world. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President Obama.