Sandra Day O’Connor, who has died aged 93, had two principal claims to fame. The first was indisputable: she was the first woman to serve as a justice of the US supreme court, holding office from 1981 to 2006. The second claim was less certain but widely believed among her fellow US citizens – that hers was the key vote that put George W Bush rather than Al Gore into the White House after the cliffhanging election of 2000.
With the outcome dependent on Florida’s 25 electoral college votes, both candidates had asked a succession of state and federal courts to rule on the validity of Florida’s ramshackle voting procedures. A three-week succession of contradictory judicial rulings inevitably brought the case before the US’s highest court.
