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Quotes by Harry A. Blackmun

By placing discretion in the hands of an official to grant or deny a license, such a statute creates a threat of censorship that by its very existence chills free speech.
– Harry A. Blackmun
Disapproval of homosexuality cannot justify invading the houses, hearts and minds of citizens who choose to live their lives differently.
– Harry A. Blackmun
If one's in the doghouse with the Chief, he gets the crud. He gets the tax cases and some of the Indian cases, which I like, but I've had a lot of them.
– Harry A. Blackmun
If there is any truth to the old proverb that one who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client, the Court now bestows a constitutional right on one to make a fool of himself.
– Harry A. Blackmun
In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.
– Harry A. Blackmun
It is precisely because the issue raised by this case touches the heart of what makes individuals what they are that we should be especially sensitive to the rights of those whose choices upset the majority.
– Harry A. Blackmun
The flaw in the statute is that in all its applications, it operates on a fundamentally mistaken premise that high solicitation costs are an accurate measure of fraud.
– Harry A. Blackmun
The mandated description of fetal characteristics at two-week intervals, no matter how objective, is plainly overinclusive. It is not medical information that is always relevant to the woman's decision, and it may serve to confuse and punish her and to heighten her anxiety.
– Harry A. Blackmun
The right of an individual to conduct intimate relationships in the intimacy of his or her own home seems to me to be the heart of the Constitution's protection of privacy.
– Harry A. Blackmun
The states are not free, under the guise of protecting maternal health or potential life, to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies.
– Harry A. Blackmun
We're all eccentrics. We're nine prima donnas.
– Harry A. Blackmun
What the Court really has refused to recognize is the fundamental interest all individuals have in controlling the nature of their intimate associations.
– Harry A. Blackmun
Who is to say that 5 men 10 years ago were right whereas 5 men looking the other direction today are wrong.
– Harry A. Blackmun