Harry Blackmun

Details

Birth

November 12, 1908 · Nashville, Illinois

Death

March 4, 1999

Law school

harvard university

Prior experience

U.s. court of appeals judge

Biography

Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1970 to 1994. Born in Nashville, Illinois, and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Blackmun graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1929 and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1932. He practiced law in Minneapolis for sixteen years before serving as resident counsel for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1950 to 1959. In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where he served for eleven years. President Richard Nixon nominated Blackmun to the Supreme Court in 1970 as his third choice after the Senate rejected Harold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth. Initially considered a judicial conservative and part of the "Minnesota Twins" alongside close friend Chief Justice Warren Burger, Blackmun gradually evolved toward more liberal positions during his tenure. He is best known for authoring the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973), which established a constitutional right to abortion. Other significant opinions include his work in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977), expanding commercial speech protections, and his passionate dissent in DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989) regarding government responsibility for protecting citizens from harm. Blackmun's judicial philosophy emphasized pragmatism and compassion, particularly in cases involving individual rights and human dignity. His later career was marked by increasingly liberal votes on civil rights, criminal justice, and social issues. Upon his retirement in 1994, Blackmun left behind a complex legacy as a justice who transformed from conservative appointee to liberal stalwart, forever associated with one of the Court's most controversial and enduring decisions.

Notable opinions

• Roe v. Wade
• Bowers v. Hardwick