Burnt Orange Report

Harry Blackmun's memory honored

By Byron LaMasters

Justice Harry Blackmun is one of my personal heroes. He was a conservative appointed by Richard Nixon in 1970, but through his service on the court, he found an independent streak, and near the end of his career, he ended up being one of the most consistantly liberal voices on the court. He is best known as the author of the Roe v. Wade opinion, but he also wrote a great dissent in Bowers v. Hardwick (which, in 1986 upheld Georgia's sodomy law on a 5-4 vote). Here's the end of Blackmun's dissent:

I can only hope that here, too, the Court soon will reconsider its analysis and conclude that depriving individuals of the right to choose for themselves how to conduct their intimate relationships poses a far greater threat to the values most deeply rooted in our Nation's history than tolerance of nonconformity could ever do. Because I think the Court today betrays those values, I dissent.

Blackmun is smiling today.