Justice Harry A. Blackmun: 1908-1999

His Controversial Opinion In Roe Vs. Wade Echoes Still

March 05, 1999|By Glen Elsasser, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — Retired Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who wrote the divisive 1973 opinion that established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, died early Thursday at Arlington (Va.) Hospital from complications following hip replacement surgery on Feb. 23. He was 90.

During his 24 years as a justice, Blackmun, who a former law clerk described as "a Midwest populist," was a pivotal voice in shaping the nation's laws on such sensitive issues as affirmative action, state aid to church-run schools and immigrants' rights.

But Blackmun's reputation was indelibly set in the landmark Roe vs. Wade and a companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, when the court by a vote of 7-2 decriminalized abortion and sharply restricted state regulation of the procedure.

The ruling provoked a political backlash in Congress and many state legislatures, and set in motion an aggressive "right to life" movement.

"This right of privacy . . . is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy," Blackmun declared in Roe. "The detriment that the state would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice is apparent."

The abortion ruling, one of the most controversial in the court's history, made Blackmun, who retired in 1994, a target of abortion foes. The justice was so deluged with mail, sometimes threatening, that he was forced to remove his name from the directory of the Arlington, Va., apartment house where he and his wife lived.

"You can think of any name to call someone, and I have been called it," Blackmun said in a 1982 television interview. "Butcher of Dachau, murderer, Pontius Pilate, King Herod, you name it. Well, of course, it hurt at first. It doesn't hurt so much anymore, because I think one's hide gets a little thick, to use the old phrase."

One night in 1985, a bullet shattered the window of Blackmun's apartment shortly after he had left the room. The incident prompted an FBI investigation and special protection for the justice.

President Clinton praised Blackmun on Thursday for the "compassion, distinction and honor" he displayed as a justice, and especially "his uncanny feel for the human element that lies just beneath the surface of all serious legal arguments."

These same sentiments were expressed by many of the justices who served with Blackmun.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist called him "a worthy successor" to the other distinguished justices who had held the same seat, among them Oliver Wendell Holmes, Benjamin Cordozo and Felix Frankfurter.

"No one was more dedicated to the rule of law, or more painstaking in the execution of his responsibilities on this court than Harry Blackmun," said Justice Antonin Scalia.

While noting that she did not always agree with Blackmun, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said "he was to me a model of the caring justice for his integrity, his high sense of justice, his exemplification of decency, modesty and civility."

Veteran Justice John Paul Stevens, who had served with Blackmun beginning in 1975, made note of his "intelligence, kindness, diligence, warmth, grace and an unusual concern for the impact of his decisions on real people."

A former law clerk, Dean David Van Zandt of Northwestern University's law school, called Blackmun "a Midwest populist" who was always looking after the interests "of the common person." Many people, Van Zandt said, were sometimes confused by Blackmun's different views, which were not always clearly liberal or conservative.

On the court, Blackmun had a reputation as a workaholic and often spent weekends agonizing over the writing of decisions. Fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor--whose radio program "Prairie Home Companion" was a favorite pastime--once dubbed him "the shy person's justice" because of his concern for the underdog.

Outside the courtroom, the frail, owlish Blackmun exuded charm and friendliness. He regularly ate breakfast with his clerks in the court's cafeteria in full view of tourists, a habit that continued after his retirement and even when he was confined to a wheelchair.

Joining the high court in 1970, Blackmun was routinely described as one of President Richard Nixon's "law and order" justices during his early years there. Commentators tagged Blackmun and then-Chief Justice Warren Burger, a boyhood friend from St. Paul, the "Minnesota Twins" because they often cast identical votes in cases.

A little-known federal appeals court judge from Rochester, Minn., Blackmun replaced Abe Fortas, who had resigned from the court under fire in 1969 because of questionable financial dealings. The Democrat-controlled Senate already had rejected two previous nominees--Judges Clement Haynsworth of South Carolina and G. Harrold Carswell of Florida--for the Fortas vacancy.