Professor Lisa Tucker provided commentary in The New York Times on the judicial career of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

An article published on Oct. 23 coincided with O’Connor’s announcement that she has dementia and intends to withdraw from public life.

As the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, O’Connor was keenly aware that her performance on the court could affect how future women would be judged in the role, said Tucker, who wrote two children’s books about the pioneering jurist.

“Being a woman didn’t define her in the job,” McElroy told the Times. “Being a justice defined her.”

The author of “Sandra Day O’Connor: Supreme Court Justice,” published in 2003, and “Meet my Grandmother: She’s a Supreme Court Justice,” published in 1999, Tucker is an authority on the Supreme Court who teaches a seminar on the subject and often provides commentary to the press.