Word: blackmun
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...vote, that defendants cannot exclude people from juries on the basis of their race. The decision limits peremptory challenges, which have traditionally allowed jurors to be excluded from serving without any explanation. "Be it at the hands of the State or the defense," wrote Justice Harry Blackmun for the majority, "if a court allows jurors to be excluded because of group bias, it is a willing participant in a scheme that could only undermine the very foundation of our system of justice -- our citizens' confidence...
...decision, the court struck down by a 5-to-4 vote a Forsyth County, Ga., law that required demonstrators to purchase a parade permit for a fee based on the anticipated cost of police protection. The permit fee was imposed after a series of costly civil rights marches. Said Blackmun, again ! writing for the majority: "Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob." Still to come before the end of the term: 14 decisions, involving such major issues as abortion, prayer in the schools and cigarette...
Attorney General William Barr called the landmark decision "an important victory . . . against terrorists and narcotraffickers." But Justice John Paul Stevens, who was joined in his dissent by Harry Blackmun and Sandra Day O'Connor, warned that "most courts throughout the civilized world will be deeply disturbed by the 'monstrous' decision the court announces today...
Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun cancelled his scheduled speech due to illness. His address was read by his daughter, Dr. Nancy Blackmun Coniaris...
Liberals can take heart in the tendency of some Justices to shift views during their years on the bench. Blackmun moved to the left from his first days on the court. On the whole, O'Connor has drifted toward the center. Souter, who voted the same way as O'Connor in dozens of cases this term, may yet do the same. But the possibility of gradual leftward movement is cold comfort to liberals who realize their two aging champions, Marshall and Blackmun, may eventually be replaced by George Bush appointees. And that would almost certainly turn the conservative bloc into...