Harry Andrew Blackmun
Blackmun, Harry Andrew
(blăk`mən), 1908–99, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1970–94), b. Nashville, Ill. Educated at Harvard, he practiced law privately, was general counsel to the Mayo Clinic (1950–59), then became a federal circuit court judge. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President NixonNixon, Richard Milhous,1913–94, 37th President of the United States (1969–74), b. Yorba Linda, Calif. Political Career to 1968
A graduate of Whittier College and Duke law school, he practiced law in Whittier, Calif.
..... Click the link for more information. . Blackmun was initially allied with the conservatives on the court, including his boyhood friend Warren BurgerBurger, Warren Earl,
1907–95, American jurist, 15th chief justice of the United States (1969–86), b. St. Paul, Minn. After receiving his law degree in 1931 from St.
..... Click the link for more information. , but is best known for his 1973 majority opinion in Roe v. WadeRoe v. Wade,
case decided in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with Doe v. Bolton, this decision legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
..... Click the link for more information. , legalizing abortion. By the 1980s he tended toward a liberal view in most areas, particularly civil-rights cases.
Bibliography
See L. Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun (2005).