Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey [Hardcover]

This is a remarkable books in so many ways. As other reviews have indicated this is not intended to be a complete biography but rather information gleaned from a review of the archives of Justice Blackmun

LInda Greenhouse focused mainly on three topic. The first is the ending of a friendship between Justice Blackmun and Chief Justice Burger. The two men grew up together. Burger was the leader bringing Justice Blackmun with him. When Justice Blackmun arrived at the Supreme Court he slowly became his own man and the friendship falls apart. In her reliance on the Blackmun papers only we can only see one side of the fissure but even that shows when old friends go their own way it often is done by small slights that in each detail is irrelevant but together are significant.

The second theme is the change in Blackmun"s attitude toward the death penalty. In small steps the responsibilities of the Court required Blackmun to more fully understand the implications of the penalty until finally he no longer could support it. Again the change is beautifully detailed and we feel from his writing as portrayed by Ms Greenhouse the depth of the change. In this portion of the book we learn how difficult it is to predict how sitting on the Court will change people. As we see the selection process for a new justices begin we should remember that people do grow with responsibilities and not to be to quick to characterize a nominee.

The last focus and the most detailed portion of the book is the identification of Justice Blackmun with the Roe decision which he wrote. Starting from the beginning of the research at Mayo Clinic the focus of the decision was the protection of doctors. As Blackmun developed his view he became more concerned about the rights of woman. Roe became his legacy and he worked hard and even stayed on the Court longer to be sure the case was not reversed.

The book also provides a wonderful insight on how the Court operates. Justices that have different views are friendly. The letters and the notes between the justices are fascinating.

The theme is the change in Blackmum as he served. The lesson is that as we watch the Court we forget that the justices can change and that there is enormous pride in the institution.

In summary this is a wonderful book by an author who obviously respects her subject

Linda Greenhouse, long-time Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times, was permitted early access to the papers of Justice Harry Blackmun which became publicly available in 2004, five years after his death. Utilizing this treasure trove of Supreme Court files, enhanced by her more than twenty-six years covering and studying the Court, she has crafted a book of unusual insight and value for students of the Court. Through the use of Blackmun files, and the reproduction in the book of key documents, it is possible to gain an understanding of how the Justices interact with each other, how they reach consensus on opinions, the techniques through which they express disagreement and displeasure with one another, and the various persuasive strategies that they may follow. This is particulary the case with the abortion controversy that Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade, faced for much of his Court tenure. While not a conventional biography of Justice Blackmun, we do learn quite a lot about his career and standards from his pre-Court papers. But it is Blackmun on the Court (1970-94) that is the meat of this volume. One of the most valuable aspects of the volume is the insight it affords into Chief Justice Warren Burger, Blackmun's friend from childhood who is instrumental in securing his nomination. Burger has not been the subject of a full-length biography, and Greenhouse's discussion of his interaction with Blackmun (including the deterioration of their relationship) and his leadership of the Court is quite helpful in filling this gap. Aside from the book itself, and its many virtues, the question does arise as to the propriety of Blackmun's papers being made public so soon after his death, especially considering that he served with all members of the present Court with the exception of Justice Breyer. Included in the book are memos from Justice Kennedy for example, as well as Blackmun conference notes relating the positions of Justices Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia and Kennedy on the Webster abortion case in 1989. However it is difficult to argue against such early release given the splendid contributions Greenhouse had made in this truly monumental volume.

This well written book is an admiring study of Harry Blackmun's tenure on the Supreme Court. The author, Linda Greenhouse, is the New York Times reporter assigned to Supreme Court coverage, and is known well for her excellent articles on the Court. This book has the strengths and weaknesses of high quality journalism. Greenhouse developed this book from the extensive personal materials deposited by the Blackmun family in the National Archives after Justice Blackmun's death. Greenhouse's goal is to give a portrait of Blackmun as a working Justice, how his attitudes towards important issues evolved over the course of his tenure on the Supreme Court, to explore the background of some particularly important decisions, especially the Roe v. Wade decision, and to provide some information about the nature of work in the Supreme Court as a whole. This is not a systematic biography or legal history, nor does this book include close analysis of any of the major issues coming before the court during Justice Blackmun's tenure. On its own terms, this is an excellent book. Greenhouse begins with a nice precis of Blackmun's life prior to his appointment to the Court, then covers his initial adjustment to the role of Supreme Court justice. While some of Blackmun's important positions, his opposition to capital punishment for example, have roots early in his career, the evolution of Blackmun's views under the pressure of having to make important decisions about relatively unfamiliar topics emerges very well. Greenhouse presents Blackmun as an intelligent, diligent, and decent man often struggling with issues outside his prior personal and professional experience. His perspective on a number of issues, notably women's rights and capital punishment, changed significantly over the course of his tenure on the Court, often exhibiting a leftward drift as the Court as a whole moved to the right with Reagan era appointees. Greenhouse has an enlightening discussion of Roe v. Wade, emphasizing that the decision was not particularly controversial within the Court but pointing out that Blackmun's rationale, his emphasis on the importance of physician-patient relations, was attacked from both the right and the left. Greenhouse is enlightening also on the nature of decision making within the Court, emphasizing the importance of interaction and collegiality among the Justices. Chief Justice Warren Burger, Blackmun's childhood friend from whom he became estranged during their service on the Supreme Court, comes across as an unsuccessful Chief on the basis of poor leadership of the Court and his inability to separate personal feelings from professional disagreement. With Chief Justice Rehnquist, on the other hand, he enjoyed a cordial relationship despite many juicidial disagreements. It would have been nice to have more context, specifically more technical legal context, as background for the discussion of some of Blackmun's opinions, but then this would have been a considerably longer and less personal book. Blackmun will eventually have a major biography, and given the extensive materials he left behind and the many controversies before the Court during his tenure, this will probably be an enormous book. In the interim, this warm study is a nice introduction to Blackmun and the internal workings of the Court.

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