Harry Andrew Blackmun

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US Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1994

Harold Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by President Richard Nixon , Blackmun ultimately became one of the most liberal justices on the Court. He is best known as the author of the Court's opinion in Roe v. Wade .

Raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota , Blackmun graduated from Harvard Law School in 1932. He practiced law in the Twin Cities , representing clients such as the Mayo Clinic . In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit . After the defeat of two previous nominees , President Nixon successfully nominated Blackmun to the Supreme Court to replace Associate Justice Abe Fortas . Blackmun and his close friend, Chief Justice Warren Burger , were often called the "Minnesota Twins ", but Blackmun drifted away from Burger during their tenure on the court. He retired from the Court during President Bill Clinton 's administration and was succeeded by Stephen Breyer .

Aside from Roe v. Wade, notable majority opinions by Blackmun include _Bates v. State Bar of Arizona _, _Bigelow v. Commonwealth of Virginia _, and _Stanton v. Stanton _. He joined part of the joint opinion in _Planned Parenthood v. Casey _ but also filed a separate opinion, warning that Roe was in jeopardy. He wrote dissenting opinions in notable cases such as _Furman v. Georgia _, _Bowers v. Hardwick _, and _DeShaney v. Winnebago County _.

Early life and education

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Blackmun was born on November 12, 1908, in Nashville, Illinois , to Theo Huegely (Reuter) and Corwin Manning Blackmun. His grandparents were German immigrants who operated a flour mill in Nashville, Illinois. Three years after his birth, his brother, Corwin Manning Blackmun Jr., died soon after birth; his sister, Betty, was born in 1917. Blackmun grew up in Dayton's Bluff , a working-class neighborhood in Saint Paul , Minnesota , where his father owned a small store. He attended the same grade school and Sunday school as future Chief Justice Warren E. Burger . Blackmun was a Methodist.

Blackmun attended Mechanic Arts High School in Saint Paul, where he graduated fourth in his class of 450 in 1925. He initially planned to attend the University of Minnesota , but he received a scholarship to Harvard University . To help fund his education at Harvard, Blackmun worked several jobs, including as a janitor and a milkman. While at Harvard, Blackmun joined the Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity and sang with the Harvard Glee Club
, performing for President Herbert Hoover
during his first visit to Washington, D.C.
, in 1929. That same year, he graduated summa cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa
, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics
. He considered pursuing medical school, but chose to attend Harvard Law School
on his friend Warren Burger's advice. There, future Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter
was among his professors, and Blackmun graduated with a Bachelor of Laws
in 1932.

Career
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After graduating from law school, Blackmun returned to Minnesota, where he served in a variety of positions including private counsel, law clerk, and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School
and William Mitchell College of Law
(then the St. Paul College of Law). Blackmun's practice as an attorney at the law firm now known as Dorsey & Whitney
focused in its early years on taxation, trusts and estates
, and civil litigation
. He married Dorothy Clark in 1941 and they had three daughters. Motivated by his initial passion for medicine, Blackmun accepted a position as resident counsel for the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester
from 1950 to 1959.
Court of Appeals
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In the late 1950s, Blackmun's close friend Warren E. Burger
, then an appellate judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
, repeatedly encouraged Blackmun to seek a judgeship. Judge John B. Sanborn Jr.
of the Eighth Circuit, whom Blackmun had clerked for after graduating from Harvard, told Blackmun of his plans to assume senior status
. He said that he would recommend Blackmun to the Eisenhower administration if Blackmun wished to succeed him. After much urging by Sanborn and Burger, Blackmun agreed to accept the nomination, duly offered by Eisenhower and members of the Justice

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