Harry Blackmun Quotes (8 Quotes)

For the justices, Roe reflected earlier cases involving the right to privacy. That right, ... broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

Controversy over the meaning of our nation's most majestic guarantees frequently has been turbulent,

as a person of judicial integrity who wrote acceptably well and contributed in more than one field. I'd like to be known just as a good worker in the vineyard who held his own and contributed generally to the advancement of the law.

Butcher of Dachau, murderer, Pontius Pilate, King Herod. You name it, it's all in there, ... On the other hand, some of the letters I received, without any question, are some of the most wonderful letters anyone could ever imagine.

Constitution compels abortion on demand.

Abortion raises moral and spiritual questions over which honorable persons can disagree sincerely and profoundly. But those disagreements did not then and do not now relieve us of our duty to apply the Constitution faithfully.

It was the issue of abortion that catapulted Blackmun to national prominence. When the case, Roe v. Wade, appeared at the Supreme Court, only seven justices were involved in the original oral arguments. For this reason, the case was later re-argued and as the justices met in conference, Blackmun was assigned to write the opinion for the majority. As has already been documented, Blackmun and his colleagues were determined to find ... I may have to push myself a bit, but I would not be offended by the extension of privacy concepts to the point presented in the present case . . . I think I could go along with any reasonable interpretation of the problem in principles of privacy.

If there is any truth to the old proverb that one who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client, the Court now bestows a constitutional right on one to make a fool of himself.