Crazy: Late Chief Justice William Rehnquist Proposed To Sandra Day O’Connor In The ’50s

I live for crap like this.

Evan Thomas, a biographer who has a book titled “First” coming out next year, recently made an incredibly interesting discovery. Late Chief Justice William Rehnquist proposed to Sandra Day O’Connor in the ’50s.

When 19-year-old Sandra Day entered Stanford Law School in 1949, her frequent seatmate was 26-year-old Bill Rehnquist, attending Stanford on the GI Bill. The two shared their equally meticulous class notes and eventually were dating regularly. But by December of their second year, she broke up with him while somehow retaining what she called their “study buddy” relationship; she even entered the moot-court competition with Rehnquist, and the pair finished second.

When Rehnquist graduated a semester early and went off to Washington, D.C., for a Supreme Court clerkship, Sandra wrote to her parents that school “does not seem the same” without him. “We all truly hated to see him leave, in spite of, perhaps, even because of, all the funny things he does. He certainly has a brilliant career ahead,” she added.

Eventually, Sandra ended up dating her future husband, John O’Connor. But it wasn’t long after that she received a letter from Rehnquist.

But in March, just about the time that Day and O’Connor were going out on their 40th date in 40 days, Sandra got a letter from Rehnquist telling her he wanted to see her to talk about “important things.” And in a March 29 letter, he popped the question. “To be specific, Sandy, will you marry me this summer?”

OMG OMG OMG. This is WILD. How did no one ever know about this?!?!

She obviously said no, but STILL. These two served on the Supreme Court with each other, and no one really knew that he actually popped the question.

Sandra Day would marry John O’Connor, becoming Sandra Day O’Connor in 1952. As for Rehnquist, not long after Sandra said “no,” he would start dating Nan Cornell, the woman he would marry in 1953. According to Thomas, Rehnquist would tell a friend shortly before his death in 2005 that Nan, who died in 1991, was the only woman he ever loved.

The two justices never made a secret of their dating relationship at Stanford, though both played it down. But it appears that neither friends, colleagues nor family knew of the marriage proposal — until now.

O’Connor’s son, Jay, says that he and his siblings were “surprised,” though they knew their mother and Rehnquist had dated. That, observes Jay, “was a different era.”

“Dating was pretty innocent in the ’50s,” he says, adding that “multiple men proposed to my mom when she was in college and law school, and ultimately my dad was the one who was the real deal.”

I don’t know. I just think this is so neat.

“It was just an amazing accident of history that … my mom and her friend and law school classmate ended up on the Supreme Court together,” Jay continued. “Not only did they have a wonderful working relationship for over 25 years on the court, they had a wonderful friendship their entire life.”

Kinda cool, right?

Oh my goodness, what a story– Chief Justice Rehnquist asked Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, to marry him while law students at Stanford. She declined, but they remained friends, study buddies, and then went on to SCOTUS… https://t.co/UASLKYv3JR

— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) October 31, 2018

Wow – Supreme Marriage Proposal – Rehnquist asked Sandra Day O’Connor to marry him – she turned him down but they stayed friends and served on high court together years later via @NinaTotenberg https://t.co/hijMAvyWJS

— Deirdre Walsh (@deirdrekwalsh) October 31, 2018

!!! Chief Justice Rehnquist proposed to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the early 1950s, and we only learned about it today. https://t.co/BUgNNK7hkA

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 31, 2018

OMG William Rehnquist once asked Sandra Day O'Connor to marry him. She said no and they both went on to serve on the Supreme Court at the same time! https://t.co/908Sy5yedy

— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) October 31, 2018

Amazing… William Rehnquist proposed to Sandra Day O'Connor back in the day… she refused and they remained friends, then served on the court together.

A Supreme Marriage Proposal https://t.co/6iYktju2AS #SCOTUS

— Lauren Peikoff (@laurenpeikoff) October 31, 2018

Consider that your interesting tidbit of the day!

h/t NPR