الكاتب: kafej

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, has died at the age of 93.

She was appointed by Republican ex-president Ronald Reagan in 1981 and retired from America’s highest court in 2006.

Ms O’Connor died in Phoenix of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness, the court said.

Her nomination and subsequent confirmation by the US Senate ended 191 years of male exclusivity on the bench.

Chief Justice John Roberts said Ms O’Connor “blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female justice”.

“She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor,” he said.

“We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education.”

At a White House ceremony in 2009, Democrat former president Barack Obama presented her with the medal of freedom, the highest civilian award a president can give.

A native of Arizona who grew up on her family’s sprawling ranch, Ms O’Connor wasted little time building a reputation as a hard worker who wielded considerable political clout on the nine-member court.

She was known as an unwavering voice of moderate conservatism on America’s top legal body.

Her influence and legal thinking as a Supreme Court justice were most closely scrutinised when it came to the court’s rulings on abortion, arguably the most divisive issue it has faced.

Ms O’Connor baulked at letting states outlaw most abortions, refusing in 1989 to join four other justices who were ready to reverse the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that said women have a constitutional right to abortion.

Then, in 1992, she helped forge and lead a five-justice majority that reaffirmed the core holding of the 1973 ruling.

“Some of us as individuals find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but that can’t control our decision,” Ms O’Connor said in court during the ruling in Planned Parenthood v Casey.

“Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.”

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In 2022, some 30 years after its landmark decision, a more conservative Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade in a highly-divisive ruling.

The granddaughter of a pioneer who travelled west from Vermont and founded the family ranch three decades before Arizona became a state, Ms O’Connor grew up in the remote outback and learned to ride horses and round up cattle.

“I didn’t do all the things the boys did,” she said in a 1981 Time magazine interview, “but I fixed windmills and repaired fences”.

The key to solving the mystery of a man whose remains were found in a disused barn in the English countryside likely lies in France, according to detectives, who have launched a new appeal after his bones were analysed by experts.

The man’s body and belongings were found in a disused outbuilding in Micheldever, Hampshire, on 1 December 2017.

It’s believed he died from natural causes but, so far, Hampshire Constabulary have been unable to identify the individual.

Officers have now launched a joint effort with Locate International, a charity which looks into cold cases of missing people and unidentified remains, to investigate the man’s possible connections to France.

Recent analysis of the man’s teeth and bone samples – conducted at the University of Reading – suggests the man likely grew up in either the south of France, western Switzerland or Corsica.

The analysis also revealed pollutants indicating that the man spent his early life in a sizeable town or city and had a fish-rich diet.

A reconstructed image of what the man may have looked like has also been released.

What police learned from witnesses

After a public appeal in 2019, witnesses shared with officers that they met a man in the summer of 2012, who asked to camp overnight in their garden in Itchen Stoke, seven miles from where his body was found.

The witnesses described the man as having a French accent and said he was white with brown hair, aged between 35 to 50, and five foot eight inches tall.

He told them he was travelling through England to go to Ireland or Canada and said he previously served in the French military, according to the witness account given to officers.

It is also possible that he was deaf or hard of hearing in one ear, police say.

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‘Likely’ remains ‘lay undiscovered for five years’

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Doug Utting, from the serious case review team, said in a statement: “It seems very likely that this man died very shortly after interacting with the witnesses we have now identified and lay undiscovered for five years.

“Our enquiries have led us to believe that he grew up in southern or southeastern France, Corsica or western Switzerland.

“Through this new appeal, I hope we can hear from people in those areas that recognise the man described as someone they may know and who they have not seen or heard from since 2012.”

Dave Grimstead, Locate International’s chief executive, also said: “The key to us solving this mystery seems to lie in France.

“He died alone, but we want to make sure he is not forgotten after his death.

“Even just one small piece of information you have can help us identify him.”