U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun (1908-1999):
A Selected Bibliography

[Official portraits of the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court: Justice Blackmun], 1976 January 26.

Harry A. Blackmun (1908-1999) was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, and served until 1994. Justice Blackmun was at the center of numerous cases that had a major impact on defining the social discourse of the past thirty years concerning abortion, affirmative action, commercial speech, and capital punishment: Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, Callins v. Collins, Bowers v. Hardwick, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and Buckley v. Valeo.

The items in this list are a representative sample of works in the General Collections (see Main Reading Room) that provide: (a) basic biographical information about Justice Blackmun, (b) factual and subjective information regarding his appointment to and retirement from the Supreme Court, and (c) secondary sources concerning selected cases in which Justice Blackmun was involved.

Other Blackmun-related materials, particularly law journal articles, manuscripts, case law, published biographies, sound recordings, videotaped oral histories and transcripts, newspapers, and photographs, may be found in the Law Library, Manuscript Reading Room, Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Recorded Sound Reference Center, Newspaper and Periodical Reading Room, and Prints and Photographs Reading Room, all at the Library of Congress.

Biographical Information (including Obituaries)

Clinton, William J. “Statement on the Death of Harry A. Blackmun, March 4, 1999.” In United States. President. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. William J. Clinton, 1999. Book I (January 1-June 30, 1999). Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 2000. p. 311. LC Call number: J80 .A283 Alc (Main Reading Room, Reference)

Kinports, Kit. "Blackmun, Harry A. (1908 - 1999)," The Supreme Court : Selections from the Four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Constitution and Supplement, Philip Weinberg, Editor in Chief (New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1999), pp. 43 - 48. KF8742 .E532 1999

“Harry Andrew Blackmun.” The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 63. Clifton, N.J.: James T. White & Co., 1984. p. 157. LC Call number: E176 .N27 Biog (Main Reading Room, Reference)

“Harry Andrew Blackmun.” Who Was Who in America, with World Notables. Vol. 13, 1998-2000. New Providence, R.I.: Marquis Who’s Who, 2000. p. 27. LC Call number: E176 .W64 Biog (Main Reading Room, Reference)

Pollett, Michael. “Harry A. Blackmun.” In The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Melvin I. Urofsky, 3-60. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994. LC Call number: KF8744.F75 Alc (Main Reading Room, Reference) Note: Pages 22-60: “Representative Opinions.”

Schorr, Daniel. “Demystifier of the Supreme Court: H. A. Blackmun.” The New Leader 77 (April 11-25, 1994): 3. LC Call number: HX1.N37 (General Collections)

Watson, Bradley C.S. “Harry A. Blackmun.” In Encyclopedia of the U.S. Supreme Court, edited by Thomas T. Lewis and Richard L. Wilson. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 2001. pp. 82-84. LC Call number: KF8742.A35E53 2001 Alc (Main Reading Room, Reference)

Yarbrough, Tinsley E. “Harry A. Blackmun.” In American National Biography, edited by Paul Betz and Mark C. Carne. First supplement. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. pp. 48-49. LC Call number: CT213.A68 2002 Suppl. 1 Biog (Main Reading Room, Reference)

Appointment to and Retirement from the Supreme Court

“Blackmun Nomination, Turning Point for High Court?” U.S. News & World Report 68 (April 27 1970): 22+. LC Call number: JK1 .U65 (General Collections)

Cook, Rhodes. “Blackmun Remained True to His Moderate Roots: Justice Brought Personal Voice, Sensitivity to the ‘Little Guy’ to Many of His Votes.” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 52, no. 14 (April 9, 1994): 849-50. LC Call number: JK1.C15 Alc (Main Reading Room, Reference)

“Departing Justice Blackmun Garners Clinton's Praise (Official White House Transcript).” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 52, no. 14 (April 9, 1994): 859. LC Call number: JK1.C15 Alc (Main Reading Room, Reference)

Rosen, Jeffrey. “Sentimental Journey: The Emotional Jurisprudence of Harry Blackmun.” New Republic 210, no.18 (May 2, 1994): 13-14, 17-18. LC Call number: AP2 .N624 (General Collections)

“Supreme Court Restoration.” Christian Century 87 (May 27, 1970): 653. LC Call number: Microfilm 01962 (Microform Reading Room)

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Nomination of Harry A. Blackmun. Report, together with Separate and Individual Views, To Accompany the Nomination of Harry A. Blackmun. [Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1970. 18 p. Series: United States. Congress. Senate. Executive Report; no. 91-18. LC Call Number: J74.A36 91st, 2d sess., no. 91-18 (General Collections)

Secondary Works on Selected Cases

Callins v Collins:

Eastland, Terry. “Blackmun: Still Growing.” [Death Penalty Reversal] The American Spectator 27 (April/May, 1994): 62-4. LC Call number: Microfilm (o) 83/407 (Microform Reading Room)

“Justice Harry Blackmun Says He'll No Longer Support Death Penalty.” Jet 85, no. 19 (March 14, 1994): 4. LC Call number: Microfilm 07167 (Microform Reading Room)

Roe v Wade:

Buckley, William F. Jr. “Justice Blackmun's Dissent.” National Review 23 (July 27 1971): 828-9. LC Call number: Microfilm 06959 (Microform Reading Room)

Cates, Willard, Jr., David A. Grimes, and L. Lynn Hogue. “Topics for Our Times: Justice Blackmun and Legal Abortion--A Besieged Legacy to Women's Reproductive Health.” American Journal of Public Health 85 (September 1995): 1204-6. LC Call number: RA421 .A395 (General Collections)

Pojman, Louis P. and Francis J. Beckwith, comps. The Abortion Controversy: 25 Years after Roe v. Wade: A Reader. 2nd ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1998. xix, 469 p. LC Call number: HQ767 .A175 1998 Overflow (General Collections)

Rosenbaum, Stuart E. “Abortion, the Constitution, and Metaphysics.” Journal of Church and State 43, no. 4 (Autumn 2001): 707-23. LC Call number: BV630 .A1J6 (General Collections)

Solinger, Rickie. Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race before Roe v. Wade. New York: Routledge, 1992. xi, 324 p. LC Call number: HQ999 .U6 S65 1992 Overflow (General Collections)

Regents of the University of California v Bakke:

California. Legislature. Assembly. Education Committee. Permanent Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education. The Bakke Decision: Disadvantaged Graduate Students: Transcript and Statements, Sacramento, California, March 2, 1977. Sacramento, Calif.: Assembly Publications Off. [1977] 111, ix p. LC Call number: LB2371 .C24 1977 (General Collections)

Gahringer, Robert E. “Race and Class: The Basic Issue of the Bakke Case.” Ethics 90, no. 1 (October, 1979): 97-114. LC Call number: BJ1 .I6 (General Collections). Full text also accessible on site via Library of Congress electronic resources: JSTOR.

O'Neil, R. M. “The Bakke Case in the United States Supreme Court.” In: John Walsh. Minorities in Medicine: Report of A Conference. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1977. v, 42 p. LC Call number: R745 .W34 (General Collections)

Scott, Thomas Oliver. Education is Our Right: The Bakke Case and the Developing Crisis in Education. Chicago: Equal Rights Congress, 1977. 48 p. ill. LC Call number: LC212.2 .S36 (General Collections)

Spratlen, Thaddeus H. “The Bakke Decision: Implications for Black Educational and Professional Opportunities.” The Journal of Negro Education 48, no. 4 (Autumn, 1979): 449-456. LC Call number: LC2701 .J6 (General Collections). Full text also accessible on site via Library of Congress electronic resources: JSTOR.

Compiled by Sibyl E. Moses, Humanities and Social Sciences Division. February 27, 2004