Sandra Day O’Connor holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was born into a ranching family on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, though she grew up in Arizona, which would be her home state throughout most of her life. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University, in California, in 1950 and remained at Stanford to complete a law degree in 1952—taking two years rather than the normal three. Coincidentally, the U.S. chief justice under whom she would serve, William Rehnquist, was a classmate at Stanford, and the two even briefly dated.