DUNCAN — An Arizona hero with roots in Duncan is being honored in the halls of Congress.
U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., has introduced a bill to name the Duncan Post Office after the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
“Obviously, this where she grew up, near Duncan, at her family’s cattle ranch, at the Lazy B Ranch,” Ciscomani said. “As her passing happened, we thought, ‘Well, what better to remember her than to rename this Post Office.’ ”
– David Bell Photo/Gila Valley Central
Ciscomani’s bill, H.R. 7011, was introduced Wednesday, Jan. 17 and was assigned to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. It has bi-partisan support, with Democratic co-sponsors Greg Stanton and Raul Grijalva, and Republicans Debbie Lesko and David Schweikert, all of Arizona.
O’Connor was the first woman to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, nominated to the high court in 1981 by President Ronald Regan.
O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, but grew up on the family’s ranch near Duncan. She attended Stanford University at just 16 years old, graduating magnum cum laude, before attending Stanford Law School.
Her first job as a lawyer was as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, Calif., before returning to Arizona to serve in the Attorney General’s Office.
Following a stint in the state Senate, she was appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court as a judge, and then to the Arizona Court of Appeals before her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, serving from 1981 to 2006.
She passed away Dec. 1, 2023, at the age of 93.
