Blackmun remembered for law and compassion

Services are held at Washington's Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church
MESSAGE BOARD:
Harry Blackmun dies

March 9, 1999
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EST (2310 GMT)

In this story: Legal decisions High honors Best known for one of 350 decisions RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun was remembered at a memorial service Tuesday not only for his rulings on the high court, but also for his humor and his compassion for the people his legal decisions would affect.

Among those attending the service at the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington was first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who sat next to Blackmun's widow, Dottie.

Blackmun's successor on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, delivered one of the eulogies. He said Blackmun never forgot he was not the first choice for the seat he filled for 24 years.

Justice Stephen Breyer delivers a eulogy

"He was the president's third choice at that time -- he called himself 'Old Number Three' -- both out of modesty and to suggest that the best laid plans of any of us can go astray, sometimes through serendipity," said Breyer.

Breyer also pointed out that Blackmun liked to put in an honest day's work -- whether as a janitor, postal worker or painter during his college years or when he sat on the high court.

When a doctor told the 88-year-old justice to take an extra day off every week, Blackmun replied, "All this staying home Wednesday amounts to is cheating the government out of an honest day's work," Breyer recalled.

Legal decisions

Breyer said Blackmun displayed a humane judicial wisdom in issues ranging from racism to free speech, from antitrust matters to women's rights. Blackmun's legal legacy includes the Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

He reached those decisions slowly and carefully, said Breyer. And once Blackmun made up his mind on a matter of principle, he was firm, no matter how much criticism he received.

Breyer said Blackmun once got one very long, very critical letter that ended with a request for him to step down from the Supreme Court. His reply: Dear Sir, No. Sincerely, Harry A. Blackmun.

High honors

Hillary Clinton, left, sits with Blackmun's widow, Dorothy

Blackmun was to be buried at a private service at an undisclosed location.

Blackmun retired in 1994 and died Thursday at an Arlington, Virginia, hospital at age 90 after complications from hip replacement surgery.

Monday, Blackmun's body lay in repose at the Supreme Court's Great Hall.

He was the fifth justice to be so honored, following Chief Justices Earl Warren and Warren Burger and fellow Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan.

Flags flew at half-staff as Blackmun's closed casket was carried up the court's marbled steps across from the Capitol by the Supreme Court police honor guard who served as pallbearers.

Dozens of family members, 88 former law clerks and seven of the court's current nine members gathered for a solemn 15-minute ceremony before the public was allowed to file past his coffin.

Blackmun's casket, draped in the same 48-star flag that adorned his father's coffin, rested on the bier first used for Abraham Lincoln's funeral. Nearby, a 1978 portrait of the justice was on display.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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