[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 110 (Wednesday, August 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      TRIBUTE TO JUSTICE BLACKMUN

                                 ______


                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 10, 1994

  Mr. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, all those who love freedom in America are 
mourning the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. He 
did a great service to this Nation and to the principles of justice and 
liberty during his tenure on the bench, and his vast knowledge and 
ideals will be sorely missed.
  Sarah Weddington, the winning attorney in the landmark Roe v. Wade 
case, has written a moving tribute to the great Justice Blackmun. I ask 
for you to have those words inserted into the Record, and I hope that 
all of my colleagues will take the time to read them.

         [From the American University Law Review, Spring 1994]

              Parting Praise for Justice Harry A. Blackmun

                         (By Sarah Weddington)

       United States Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun has 
     had a greater impact on the lives of American women than any 
     other person in at least the past half century. For twenty-
     one years, the 7-2 opinion he authored, Roe v. Wade,\1\ has 
     been the epicenter of personal, social, and political change. 
     Because of it, women in the United States have had the right 
     to decide whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy and 
     therefore to determine many other aspects of their lives.
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     Footnotes at end of article.
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       I was reminded of the powerful impact of his opinion 
     recently while in Orlando, Florida to speak to the B'nai 
     B'rith Women Biennial Convention. My remarks included 
     comments about the past and future of the abortion issue and 
     about Justice Blackmun's retirement. Once we feared this 
     moment, but with President Clinton making the appointment, it 
     is predictable that a pro-Roe Justice will take that seat. 
     For the near future, I believe abortion will continue to be 
     legal; the question is whether it will be available.
       Among those in Orlando who crowded around me afterwards for 
     discussion and future questions was a dark-haired woman with 
     a sparkling personality, a leader in her local young-adult 
     chapter. As she began to talk to me, her eyes filled with 
     tears and her voice choked. She was finally able to lean 
     forward and say in my ear, ``Thank you for Roe v. Wade. You 
     saved my life.'' I do not know the specifics of her 
     situation; I do not inquire in front of others about 
     information not volunteered.
       As I think of her, other faces that have leaned forward 
     through the years flood back to me. Today I wish that I had a 
     videotape of those people to send to Justice Blackmun as he 
     retires. I wish I could share with him their heart-felt 
     comments about what a positive force Roe has been in their 
     lives.
       I saw Justice Blackmun for the first time on December 13, 
     1971, the day of the first Roe oral argument and again on 
     October 11, 1972, the second argument. The group of lawyers 
     asking the Court to declare the Texas statute outlawing 
     abortion (except to save the life of the woman) 
     unconstitutional had worked to include arguments that would 
     appeal to each Justice. We were aware that Justice Blackmum 
     had previously been counsel for the Mayo Clinic, an 
     outstanding medical facility in Minnesota. We had no 
     information about what Justice Blackmun's position on the 
     case was likely top be, but he was the Justice we had in mind 
     as we crowded medically related information into the primary 
     brief and organized a separate amicus curiae brief signed by 
     leading doctors and medical professors.
       The drama of the Supreme Court's consideration of the 
     abortion issue drew key participants in the debate from far 
     and wide. I was a young lawyer of twenty-six arguing my first 
     contested case, a case I wanted desperately to win. My memory 
     of Justice Blackmun is of a kindly, reserved man with greying 
     hair, dark-framed glasses, and a soft voice. His questions 
     were scholarly and inquiring but neither belligerent nor 
     friendly. I was especially alert to his questions during the 
     second hearing because, by then, rumors were flying that 
     Justice Blackmun was writing the opinion, that he had spent 
     part of the 1972 summer at Mayo Clinic researching case 
     issues, and that the Court was preparing to overturn the 
     Texas statute.
       On January 22, 1973, Justice Blackmun read the Roe opinion 
     from the Supreme Court bench. It concluded that a woman's 
     fundamental right of personal privacy was ``broad enough to 
     encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her 
     pregnancy.'' It also held that the State of Texas had not 
     proven a compelling reason to regulate abortion. The 
     immediate effect of the decision was to overturn anti-
     abortion statutes in forty-six of the fifty states. Later I 
     pictured the decisionmaking ability of women expanding 
     exponentially as Justice Blackmun read the words of Roe.
       I learned about the decision when a reporter from 
     Washington, D.C. called my Austin office. Moments later I 
     received a three-line telegram from the Court--collect. I 
     don't remember to cost. My phones went crazy: reporters 
     wanted comments, supporters called to celebrate and the 
     curious called to see exactly what the opinion said. Many 
     people tell me that they can still remember exactly where 
     they were and what they were doing when they heard about the 
     decision in Roe v. Wade.
       Surely that day Justice Blackmun never expected the Roe 
     opinion to be headline news at the time of his retirement. 
     He, like I, probably thought the basic issue was settled that 
     day in 1973. A year after the decision, I wrote to thank him 
     for his role as draftsman. In his response, Justice Blackmun 
     wrote: ``It meant much to have this supportive letter from 
     you at this time. There is always controversy round about us, 
     and this one seems to be particularly deep.''\2\ How 
     prophetic his words were. With hindsight we now know that 
     defending the decision and its impact would occupy a great 
     deal of judicial time throughout his career.
       For example, the issue of financial access to abortion has 
     been before the Supreme Court. In Beal v. Doe,\3\ the Court 
     held that Medicaid did not require states to pay for poor 
     women's abortions. In his dissent, Justice Blackmun 
     demonstrated his understanding of the viewpoint of women in 
     poverty:
       ``The Court concedes the existence of a constitutional 
     right but denies the realization and enjoyment of that right 
     on the ground that realization and enjoyment are separate and 
     distinct. For the individual woman concerned, indigent and 
     financially helpless, as the Court's opinions . . . concede 
     her to be, the result is punitive and tragic. Implicit in the 
     Court's holdings is the condescension that she may go 
     elsewhere for her abortion. I find that disingenuous and 
     alarming, almost reminiscent of: ``Let them eat cake.''\4\
       By 1989, the lasting power of Roe seemed tenuous because of 
     Supreme Court appointments made by anti-Roe Presidents Ronald 
     Reagan and George Bush. Justice Blackmun must have felt under 
     siege as he valiantly sought to defend Roe. In Webster v. 
     Reproductive Health Services,\5\ the Supreme Court approved 
     new state restrictions on abortion procedures and signaled 
     that it might overturn Roe. Justice Blackmun wrote in 
     dissent:
       ``I fear for the future. I fear for the liberty and 
     equality of the millions of women who have lived and come of 
     age in the 16 years since Roe was decided.''\6\
       Many citizens shared his fear. Blackmun, the oldest 
     Justice, and John Paul Stevens were the only Justices 
     defending the original Roe decision, four others were saying, 
     ``Let's get rid of Roe,'' and the remaining three Justices 
     were essentially saying, ``We're not ready to overturn 
     Roe, but we are prepared to weaken it.'' One more anti-Roe 
     Justice could doom the decision. Justice Blackmun had 
     commented that he could not last forever.\7\ I believe 
     many voters had Blackmun's comment in mind as they cast 
     their 1992 ballots for the presidential candidate who 
     pledged to protect privacy, Bill Clinton.\8\
       Even as this Tribute goes to press, Justice Blackmun will 
     once again participate in deciding a case regarding access. 
     In Madsen v. Women's Health Center Inc.,\9\ the Court will 
     review a Florida case involving restrictions placed on clinic 
     picketers who sought to hamper access to an abortion clinic 
     and to disrupt the doctors and patients inside.
       At what cost has Justice Blackmun defended privacy and 
     women's right to make choices? He has read over 60,000 pieces 
     of ``hate mail'' received in the intervening years. He has 
     been picketed, cursed, threatened, and denounced. Even in 
     announcing his retirement, he commented that a Justice can 
     choose when to retire but not the ``tag'' assigned him or 
     her. ``Author of the abortion decision,'' he once said. ``We 
     all pick up tags. I'll carry this one to my grave.''\10\
       I hope it is a tag that he wears with pride. His opinion, 
     to a significant degree, has been the source of expanded 
     roles for women in such areas as education, employment, and 
     politics since 1973. As Justice Blackmun retires, I wish we 
     could fire a 21-gun salute, the tribute this country extends 
     to its highest and bravest. Then I wish I could give him a 
     videotape of the comments of millions of women, and those who 
     care about them, who thank him for the choices that were 
     theirs, not those of strangers or of government. Their faces 
     have kept me going all these years.
       In this issue, various writers laud a diverse collection of 
     characteristics and opinions of Justice Harry A. Blackmun. I 
     write in praise of Justice Blackmun and his opinion in Roe v. 
     Wade. Many prior Justices have been forgotten, but history 
     and especially American women will never forget his work as a 
     U.S. Supreme Court Justice. On behalf of many, I send a hug 
     and a heart-felt ``Thank you, we're glad you were there.'' 
     May your days of retirement pleasures be many, and may you 
     always know and relish the valuable difference you have made 
     in the lives of so many.


                               footnotes

     \1\410 U.S. 113 (1973).
     \2\Letter from Justice Harry A. Blackmun to Sarah Weddington, 
     Representative, Texas House of Representatives 1 (Mar. 8, 
     1974) (on file with ``The American University Law Review'').
     \3\432 U.S. 438 (1977).
     \4\Beal v. Doe, 432 U.S. 438, 462 (1977) (Blackmun, J., 
     dissenting).
     \5\492 U.S. 490 (1989).
     \6\Webster v. Reproductive Health Servs., 492 U.S. 490, 538 
     (1989) (Blackmun, J., dissenting).
     \7\Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 112 S. Ct. 2791, 2854 (1992) 
     (Blackmun, J., dissenting).
     \8\Mitchell Locin, ``With Court Choice, Clinton Gets a Chance 
     to Regain Momentum,'' Chi. Trib., Apr. 7, 1994, at A15 
     (``[M]any--particularly women--. . . voted for (Clinton) . . 
     . because they did not want a Republican president to 
     nominate any more justices.'').
     \9\Operation Rescue v. Women's Health Ctr. Inc., 626 So. 2d 
     664 (Fla. 1993), cert. granted, Madsen v. Women's Health Ctr. 
     Inc., 114 S. Ct. 907 (1994) (No. 93-880).
     \10\``Blackmun Accepts Aftermath of Writing Abortion 
     Opinion,'' N.Y. Times, Jan. 18, 1983, at A20.