U.S. Supreme Court justice (1908-1999)
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.
HARRY BLACKMUN
judicial opinion, Roe vs. Wade, Jan. 22, 1973
Whatever rights or activities may be "fundamental" under the Privilege and Immunities Clause, we ware not persuaded, and hold that elk hunting by nonresidents in Montana is not one of them.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Baldwin v. Montana Fish & Game Commission, 1978
I get disturbed when we have a case that goes off on theory and does injustice to the litigant. I think we're there to try to do justice to him as well as to develop a great, overlying cloud of legal theory.
HARRY BLACKMUN
"A Candid Talk with Justice Blackmun", New York Times Magazine, February 20, 1983
We're all eccentrics. We're nine prima donnas.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Time Magazine, February 6, 1984
One has to be aware that human beings are involved in all these cases.
HARRY BLACKMUN
"A Candid Talk with Justice Blackmun", New York Times Magazine, February 20, 1983
Each provision of the Constitution is important, and I cannot subscribe to a doctrine of unlimited absolutism for the First Amendment at the cost of downgrading other provisions.
HARRY BLACKMUN
New York Times Co. v. United States, 1971
For today, at least, the law of abortion stands undisturbed. For today, the women of this Nation still retain the liberty to control their destinies. But the signs are evident and very ominous, and a chill wind blows.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 1989
Not every concept of ownership or possession is "arcane." Not every interest in property exists only in the desiccated atmosphere of ancient maxims and dusty books.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Rawlings v. Kentucky, 1980
For more than 20 years, I have endeavored -- indeed, I have struggled -- along with a majority of this Court, to develop procedural and substantive rules that would lend more than the mere appearance of fairness to the death penalty endeavor. Rather than continue to coddle the Court's delusion that the desired level of fairness has been achieved and the need for regulation eviscerated, I feel morally and intellectually obligated simply to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed.
HARRY BLACKMUN
dissenting opinion, Callins v. James, 1994
In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.
HARRY BLACKMUN
University of California Regents v. Bakke, 1978
Constitutional rights do not always have easily ascertainable boundaries, and controversy over the meaning of our Nation's most majestic guarantees frequently has been turbulent. As judges, however, we are sworn to uphold the law even when its content gives rise to bitter dispute.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, 1986
I know I would be happier if the Court didn't plunge back and forth from left to right, just by the addition of a new Justice.
HARRY BLACKMUN
"A Candid Talk with Justice Blackmun", New York Times Magazine, February 20, 1983
It is time that we recognize intolerance for its miserable worth and, at last, work together to eliminate it. This will be a difficult task, but it is a difficult task worth doing.
HARRY BLACKMUN
preface, Us and Them
From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.
HARRY BLACKMUN
dissenting opinion, Callins v. James, 1994
We are not unaware of the deep and proper concern and interest that a devoted and protective husband has in his wife's pregnancy and in the growth and development of the fetus she is carrying. Neither has this Court failed to appreciate the importance of the marital relationship in our society. Moreover, we recognize that the decision whether to undergo or to forego an abortion may have profound effects on the future of any marriage, effects that are both physical and mental, and possibly deleterious. Notwithstanding these factors, we cannot hold that the State has the constitutional authority to give the spouse unilaterally the ability to prohibit the wife from terminating her pregnancy, when the State itself lacks that right.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Planned Parenthood of Missouri v. Danforth, 1976
Diversity yields strength. This is America's history and example. Indeed, diversity is our very creed, as is evident from the wording of our Constitution and its Amendments, from our persistent acknowledgment of the equality of persons, and from our accepting each other and profiting from our differences. To oppose it is to ignore and violate the American testament and its precious dream.
HARRY BLACKMUN
preface, Us and Them
I'll never forget one time when Justice Black, who was sitting immediately to the right of the chief justice, that is, to the left as we look at the Court, was rocking back and forth and the very eminent Erwin N. Griswold was solicitor general, former dean of Harvard Law School, and it had to do with the First Amendment. And Black, in his canny way, stopped the SG and said, "Mr. Solicitor General, I don't believe you have read the First Amendment. Let me read it to you." And so he read it. "It says that 'Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech.'" He said, "Doesn't it mean what it says?" And I, sitting over in the junior chair, wondered what Mr. Griswold would say. And I'll remember to this day, he said, "Oh, Mr. Justice, you know as well as I know that the words 'Congress shall make no law' mean 'Congress may make some law.'" I was ready to head for the hills. I wondered what I had gotten into down here when words that seemed so plain were interpreted with an opposite meaning. But there was a lot of humor in it, and, of course, Justice Black had nothing more to say. I thought it was an excellent response to a very difficult question.
HARRY BLACKMUN
interview with Harold Hongju Koh, July 6, 1994
Intolerance, it seems to me, is taught and is not inherent in man's character. It is taught at a young age by overprotective elders, by unfortunate examples, and by poor-mouthing differences rather than exulting in the excitement of their presence.
HARRY BLACKMUN
preface, Us and Them
Why are we so willing not to accept others who are not precisely like us? Why do racism and anti-Semitism, for example, run so deep in the consciousness of many Americans? Is it because of man's basic inhumanity to man, or is it prompted by a sense of inferiority that makes us want to dominate others, to protect our turf, and to seek a status with no competition?
HARRY BLACKMUN
preface, Us and Them
This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
HARRY BLACKMUN
Roe v. Wade, 1973