|
|
Article: 'Roe vs. Wade' author feared reversal on abortion Blackmun blamed '92 delay on politics, private papers show
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- March 5, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
|
WASHINGTON -- As the 1992 presidential election approached, the
author of the Supreme Court's landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling worried
that there were no longer enough votes on the court to uphold the
right to abortion -- and that his ideological opposites on the court
would play politics with the issue.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun suspected that Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist wanted to neutralize or overturn Roe but would wait until
after the fall elections so that Republicans wouldn't pay a political
price, the late justice's private papers show.
A majority of justices on both sides of the abortion fight seemed
ready to hear a case that tested Roe, but with the deadline for the
year's ...