Deconstructing Harry Blackmun.

"[New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda] Greenhouse maintains that it was Roe and its reception that forced Blackmun to begin the rest of his life and become Justice Blackmun. Doubtless, conservatives would say that Greenhouse herself played a role in Blackmun's transformation. They have deplored 'the Greenhouse effect' and accused Justices Blackmun and Kennedy of taking positions to curry favor with her and with others in the 'liberal establishment.' Certainly, Blackmun was alert to his reputation." Laura Kalman, New York Times, reviewing Greenhouse's new book, Becoming Justice Harry Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey

"Blackmun's papers vindicate every indictment of Roe: invention, overreach, arbitrariness, textual indifference. ..." William Saletan, Legal Affairs, May--June issue

"How could a right to abortion be established in such a climate-- By emphasizing the supervisory role of doctors. That was the headline of the poll found in Blackmun's files: 'ABORTION SEEN UP TO WOMAN, DOCTOR.' It was also the implicit advice of the moderate [Justice Lewis] Powell and the wily [Justice William] Brennan. Powell urged Blackmun to frame abortion as 'a medical problem broadly defined,' and Brennan proposed to strike down the Georgia law because it 'overrides a good faith determination by the attending M.D.'" William Saletan, Legal Affairs

As the author of Roe v. Wade and a man invincibly convinced of his own rectitude and role as a liberator of women, the late Supreme Court Justice Blackmun demanded that you take him seriously. Though a man of mediocre legal talents, he is frequently spoken of in almost reverential terms and treated as if he were already being fitted for induction into the Supreme Court Hall of Fame.

As we have written more than once, few reporters puffed up Blackmun's already considerable vanity more than the New York Times's Pulitzer Prize-winning Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse. Greenhouse has a new book out which the Times reviewed May 8. Surprisingly, Prof. Laura Kalman's review is both an enlightening and entertaining read.

Blackmun saved everything, which makes him an invaluable resource for reporters and scholars. As Kalman writes, "Blackmun, who sat on the court for 24 years, kept everything from hotel receipts to private exchanges between justices in many of the 3,875 cases in which he participated; and he sat for 38 hours of videotaped interviews with his former clerk Harold Hongju Koh, now the dean of Yale Law School. This pack rat then donated his entire collection to the Library of Congress, providing that it be opened five years after his death."

When it came to buffing their father's already highly polished image, Blackmun's daughters were every bit as shrewd as their father had been during his long career on the bench. As the five-year anniversary of Blackmun's March 1999 death approached, they gave Greenhouse a two-month head start. Out of this research appeared Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey.