In praise of Harry Blackmun

I always thought of SC judges as not human, as somehow not susceptible to human emotions/politics because they had a sacred duty to the law that overrode such things. How stupid was I? Apologies if other diaries have already mentioned this, but i didn't see many, but the Wash Post ran some articles on the released papers of Harry Blackmun and they made me really respect him and made me feel bad that i somehow never found the time to write him a letter to express my appreciation--i guess i assumed they would never make a difference.

A Key passage:

But the oral history shows most vividly the extent to which Blackmun was moved above all by his experiences with the abortion cases. "I never thought that I would be standing against the combined might of the Roman Catholic Church and the Mormon Church and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and other forces, with all their respected political power," he said at one point. "It showed me once again that the federal bench is no place to win a popularity contest. . . . I suspect I've been called every possible epithetical name, Hitler, butcher of Dachau, Pontius Pilate, Herod, murderer, madman."

poor guy. i wish i could have told him when he was alive that i appreciated his opinion (even though i am not a hard-core pro-choicer and resent those feminists who make it a litmus test). Blackmun ultimately seems like a very decent human being. Let me also praise Richard Nixon for putting him on the court!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29285-2004Mar4.html