Portrait of nations first female Supreme Court justice, saved from trash, to hang in Augusta courthouse [Video]

AUGUSTA — An original oil-on-canvas portrait of the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court, the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, was rescued from the trash and now will hang, fittingly, at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.

It was a colleague of Kevin Mattson, a Gardiner developer, who came across the portrait 10 years ago on a pile of trash at the transfer station in Yarmouth, rescued it and brought it back to the offices of Dirigo Capital, then in Portland.

Now that the portrait will hang in Augusta, Mattson said they’ll miss having the, well, judgmental, eyes of O’Connor looking down on them as they work. But once he realized the painting was an original, and possibly official, portrait of O’Connor, he knew the painting should rightfully be turned over to the court system.

He said he and his officemates have felt comforted, if a bit judged, by the painting, which …