Word: blackmun
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...attack continue into federal courts via a habeas corpus petition? In a heroin possession case, a four-man minority argued that "the great writ was not designed as a means of freeing persons who have voluntarily confessed guilt." Justices Potter Stewart, William Brennan, William Douglas, Thurgood Marshall and Harry Blackmun endorsed the procedure as a practical way of permitting "the constitutional issues [to] be litigated without the necessity of going through ... a trial." The result may be more guilty pleas -meaning fewer trials for state courts -but perhaps also more habeas petitions and thus a heavier burden for federal judges...
...insisted that firm antitrust enforcement requires a daily $1,000 fine for as long as the companies are improperly retained. The tough decision raised court watchers' eyebrows for another reason. The majority had taken an essentially liberal trustbusting position, and the critical fifth vote was that of Harry Blackmun. In the guilty-plea case, Blackmun's had also been the fifth vote. He and Warren Burger, close friends since childhood, have long been called the "Minnesota twins" for their conservative voting records on the court. Experts are now wondering if Blackmun has begun to set a separate...
...Supreme Court, in that 1973 decision, implied that this transition occurs at gestational age 24 to 28 weeks, as this is the period when a fetus grows "viable"--when it can live away from its mother. Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun '29 thus ruled that abortions should be allowed through the 24th week of pregnancy, at which point the state's "legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life" would overcome the right of the mother as an individual...
...court was bitterly-and significantly-divided over the decision. The majority included all four of the "strict constructionists" appointed by President Nixon-Burger, William Rehnquist, Harry Blackmun and Lewis Powell-plus Potter Stewart, an Eisenhower appointee. They were heatedly opposed by the court's four remaining Warren-era holdovers-William Brennan, Byron White, William Douglas and Thurgood Marshall. White, Douglas and Marshall filed dissenting opinions. Marshall, the court's only black member, described the ruling as "a giant step backward" for the court in the desegregation area. "In the short run," he wrote, "it may seem...
...than Warren was in building consensus?or even promoting amity?among the nine jurists. Stories about bickering behind the bench have been surfacing regularly. Promoting harmony would not be easy for any Chief Justice now because of the court's delicate ideological balance. There are three consistent conservatives (Burger, Blackmun, Rehnquist), three liberals (Douglas, Brennan, Marshall) and three swing men who are often unpredictable (White, Stewart, Powell...