Blackmun, Harry A(ndrew) (1908-1999)

US Supreme Court associate justice 1970-94. He was appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President Dwight D Eisenhower in 1959. President Richard Nixon appointed him to the US Supreme Court in 1970, where he became known for his anti-absolutist interpretations, especially of First Amendment rights. Generally a moderate, Blackmun's reasoning and writing underpinned one of the nation's greatest controversies, the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. He retired in 1994.

Born in Nashville, Illinois, Blackmun received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1932, practised law, taught at the University of Minnesota Law School 1945-47, and was judge of the US Court of Appeals of the 8th Circuit 1959-70.