WASHINGTON (AP) — Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, says she has the beginning stages of dementia and "probably Alzheimer's disease."
She made the announcement in a letter Tuesday saying that her diagnosis was made "some time ago" and that as her condition has progressed she is "no longer able to participate in public life."
O'Connor's announcement came a day after a story by The Associated Press that she had stepped back from the public eye.
Chief Justice John Roberts says he is "saddened to learn" that O'Connor has the beginning stages of dementia.
Roberts said in a statement Tuesday that although O'Connor has announced she is withdrawing from public life, "no illness or condition can take away the inspiration she provides for those who will follow the many paths she has blazed."
O'Connor, 88, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and took her seat on the court in 1981. She announced her retirement in 2005.
For more than a decade after leaving the court in 2006, O'Connor kept up an active schedule. She served as a visiting federal appeals court judge, spoke on issues she cared about and founded her own education organization. But the 88-year-old is now fully retired. She last made public appearances over two years ago. This summer she turned over an office she had kept at the Supreme Court to the court's most recently retired justice, Anthony Kennedy.
Her son Jay O'Connor said in a telephone interview that his mother began to have challenges with her short-term memory. That made some public events more difficult. He says she now stays close to her Phoenix home.
