Word: blackmun
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...conservative dissent, which would have allowed the creche, was written by Kennedy, 52, the court's newest member. Kennedy contended that the majority ruling by Harry Blackmun, and in effect a whole train of Supreme Court decisions, "reflects an unjustified hostility toward religion." In his opinion, Kennedy proposed that the court apply two new tests to determine the constitutionality of links between the government and religion. First, Kennedy wrote, "government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in any religion or its exercise." Second, the court should outlaw only those "direct benefits" that tend to create a state religion...
...Blackmun's creche ban was based on more sweeping standards, in accordance with legal precedents, that said the government could neither endorse nor support any religion. Kennedy's position and his vehemence troubled liberal court observers. If his view prevails, says Lee Boothby, counsel to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "we would be litigating hundreds of cases we thought we had settled." One more vote -- perhaps a Bush appointment to the court -- would give these Justices the clout to undo 40 years of church-state law on everything from school prayer to public aid for church agencies...
Even the Justices found it impossible to discuss abortion with their usual comity. Justice Harry A. Blackmun, author of the Roe opinion, attacked the majority in Webster for cowardice, deception, disingenuousness and brute force. The ruling, he bristled, invites the states to pass restrictive laws % and "is filled with winks, and nods, and knowing glances to those who would do away with Roe explicitly." No less angry, Justice Scalia wrote that Justice O'Connor's reasons for refusing to reconsider Roe "cannot be taken seriously...
...fear for the liberty and equality of the millions of women who have lived and come of age in the 16 years since Roe was decided," Justice Harry Blackmun proclaimed in his dissent. "For today, the women of this nation will retain the liberty to control their destinies. But the signs are evident and very ominous, and a chill wind blows...
...joined with Sandra Day O'Connor and Byron White in dissent. On the other side, Ronald Reagan's two conservative appointees, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, showed that when basic First Amendment rights were involved, they could come down in defense even of flag burning. Thurgood Marshall and Harry Blackmun rounded out the 5-to-4 majority...