Behind The Bench

• Share

During his 24 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Harry A. Blackmun presided over thousands of cases, including Roe v. Wade, for which he wrote the majority opinion. The famously liberal judge also assembled a vast dossier of private papers — more than 530,000 letters and diaries — which, upon his retirement in 1994, he donated to the Library of Congress. Last week 1,585 boxes of his papers were unsealed.

I feel as though I have been a cork on a fast-moving stream propelled by forces over which I had little control.

--THE CONTEMPLATIVE JUDGE
In notes for a postretirement speech, Blackmun pondered the course of his judicial career, which transformed him from a conservative stalwart to the court's resident liberal

A regular law review article!

--FRIENDLY FIRE?
A sarcastic comment about a legal memo written in 1978 by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger reveals erosion in the friendship between the two men

V.P. Agnew Just Resigned!! Mets 2 Reds 0

--NOTES IN CLASS
Some of Blackmun's memorandums illuminate the backstory of famous decisions. Others, like this one passed down the bench while the court heard arguments, show even Justices get bored

I continue to kick myself for withdrawing my comment about capital punishment ... I was right about it and one never should compromise when one is right.

--FINAL REGRET
As an appeals court judge in 1967, Blackmun bowed to the majority and deleted his reservations about the death penalty from a written opinion. He expressed his remorse to his then friend Burger