Harry Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court for twenty-four years, best remembered as the author of the landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion. Born in Illinois and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was a brilliant student who graduated from Harvard and its law school and built a distinguished career as a lawyer, including service as counsel to the renowned Mayo Clinic.
After serving as a federal appeals court judge, Blackmun was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, who expected him to be a reliable conservative. For a time he voted closely with his boyhood friend Chief Justice Warren Burger — the two were dubbed the "Minnesota Twins" — but over the years Blackmun's views evolved considerably.
His most famous and controversial work was the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, which drew on medical and legal reasoning to recognize a woman's right to choose an abortion. The decision made him a hero to supporters of abortion rights and a target of fierce, lasting opposition from its opponents, and he defended it for the rest of his career.
As the Court grew more conservative, Blackmun moved steadily toward its liberal wing, becoming a strong voice for individual rights and, near the end of his tenure, declaring his opposition to the death penalty. He retired in 1994 and died in 1999, one of the most closely studied justices of his era.