A woman has presided over a Supreme Court session for the first time in history.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sat in the middle chair usually occupied by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist for 20 minutes Monday because both he and Justice John Paul Stevens, the senior associate justice, were absent.O'Connor, who became the first woman on the Supreme Court when she joined in 1981 is now third in seniority among the court's nine members.

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Only five of the court's nine justices were on hand for the historic, if abbreviated, session to handle mostly routine administrative matters, such as administering the oath to 140 lawyers signing onto the Supreme Court Bar to they can practice before the court.

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