The battle for the court begins

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, resigned yesterday, setting the stage for a fierce battle over who will succeed her.

President Bush praised Justice O’Connor as a “discerning and conscientious judge” and vowed to offer a nominee who “will faithfully interpret the Constitution.” The White House said it would not offer a candidate until after Mr. Bush returns from Europe on July 8.

While her retirement leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal appointed by President Clinton, the lone woman on the court, few names mentioned have been those of women. Among the most mentioned are Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, thought to be a particular favorite of the president, and federal appeals court judges J. Michael Luttig and John G. Roberts.

In a note to the White House, Justice O’Connor, 75, was brief. She said she will stay on until a successor is confirmed and that she was leaving “with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under the constitutional structure.” Court officials said she spoke of a need to spend more time with her husband of 53 years.

A moderate conservative when President Reagan appointed her in 1981, Justice O’Connor delivered tie-breaking votes in more than dozen landmark cases affecting civil rights, environmental protection, abortion and the 2000 presidential election among others. She became less conservative as the years went on.

While there had been speculation Justice O’Connor might step down, the timing of her announcement was a mild surprise, because Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was espected to retire first, at the end of the court’s term ending June 30.

At 80 and recovering from thyroid cancer, the chief justice’s condition during recent months had prompted the mention of several prospective replacements, who are now considered as successors to Justice O’Connor. Court watchers said her retirement indicates Justice Rehnquist will probably not step down this year, honoring a tradition of not having more than one vacancy per term.

Justice O’Connor will leave a legacy for women lawyers. Those who worked for or with her cite her intellect and scholarship.

“She’s very smart, very dedicated and very savvy, but she’s also extremely charming,” said Jeffrey Lamken, a partner with Houston-based law firm Baker Botts, who clerked for Justice O’Connor in 1992 and 1993. “There is not going to be another Justice O’Connor. I think anyone who ever worked for her would tell you that.”

It was her seriousness that made her a target for humor over the years, such as an incident at a White House Correspondents Dinner in the mid-1980s when a tipsy Washington Redskins running back, John Riggins, memorably called across a table to her: “Come on, Sandy baby, loosen up.” Mr. Riggins was beseiged by calls yesterday, but declined to talk about it.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill paid tribute yesterday.

“Today marks a great loss for America, but it’s also a day to reflect on all that we have gained because of Justice O’Connor’s service to our country,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said. “For nearly 24 years, Justice O’Connor lent America her brilliant mind and her fair and impartial judgement.”

The Senate, which the Constitution tasks with confirming the president’s nominee to succeed a justice, is preparing for a summer-long battle over Justice O’Connor’s replacement. Democrats, who have led filibusters against lower court nominations by Mr. Bush, said the president has an obligation to preserve the precarious balance of the court with whomever he chooses to replace Justice O’Connor.

Republicans said the president should not be constrained. “Elections have consequences,” said Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican. “The president clearly stated when he ran for re-election that he would be appointing conservative nominees to the Supreme Court. It comes as no surprise if a conservative nominee comes over.”

Born in 1930 in El Paso, Texas, Justice O’Connor earned undergraduate and law degrees at Stanford University, where she married classmate John Jay O’Connor III. Despite graduating third in her law school class, few law firms were willing to hire a woman lawyer during the early 1950s, so she took a job as deputy county attorney of San Mateo County in California.

After two years, she took a job as a civilian attorney for a firm in Frankfurt, Germany, and by the late 1950s had returned to the United States, to Arizona, where a private firm hired her. By 1965, she was emerging as a leading lawyer, later becoming the assistant attorney general of Arizona.

Beginning in 1969, she served three terms in the Arizona state Senate, and in 1973 became the first woman to serve as a state senate majority leader. Two years later she was elected judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, where she served until being appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979.

In 1981, President Reagan nominated her to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. She was unanimously confirmed and, at the time, quickly became a conservative ally of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger.

But in the years after, she was criticized by conservatives on some issues and hailed by them on others. Perhaps the most important case of her tenure came in December 2000, when she joined Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony M. Kennedy overrule a decision by the Florida Supreme Court, which had overruled a Florida state circuit judge, finally tipping the election to George W. Bush.

• Brian DeBose and Charles Hurt contributed to this report.