First: Sandra Day O’Connor

Historian Thomas (Being Nixon) offers a well-sourced and sympathetic biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and frequently the tie-breaking vote in pivotal decisions on divisive social issues. Utilizing Supreme Court internal records and interviews with his subject and many of her clerks, friends, and family, Thomas draws a three-dimensional portrait of O’Connor that reflects the importance of her personal relationships, as well as the judicial philosophy she employed to craft her opinions on such issues as a woman’s right to choose, affirmative action, and the separation of church and state. Thomas identifies O’Connor’s genius in her pragmatism, her ability to look beyond abstract legal concepts and instead focus on how the outcome of a particular ruling would affect the litigants and the public at large. Readers will appreciate the gossipy intrigues of the Supreme Court, including the mutual dislike between O’Connor and Antonin Scalia that was kept under a lid at work, but became obvious during a doubles tennis match. In 2006, O’Connor resigned from the Court to care for her husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and the years after her resignation are poignantly and affectingly described. This insightful account is worthy of its subject. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (Mar.)