Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Moments after the justices issued the term's final six decisions, two of which were written by Blackmun, Chief Justice William Rehnquist read a brief letter from all the court members paying tribute to their retiring colleague.
But the letter was not without its share of final, if unintended, irony.
In a reference to Blackmun's most famous opinion, which established the constitutional right to an abortion - and which has been criticized by Rehnquist - the chief justice said: ``Your opinions have covered a wide range of the issues that come before the court. You are undoubtedly best known for having authored the court's opinion in Roe v. Wade in 1973, but that distinction should not obscure the many other important issues on which you have spoken for the court.''
Blackmun responded by quoting the retirement letter of Justice William Douglas, who compared serving with his colleagues to being an outdoorsman with its ``occasional long and strenuous portages, and the last night's and the last morning's campfires.''
``Let us hope that in the years far down the line, when history eventually places us in such perspective as we deserve, it at least will be able to say: `They did their best and did acceptably well,''' Blackmun told his colleagues.
by CNB