Supreme Court Justice Kennedy Shows What One Person Can Do
by Bill Fancher
March 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - A pro-family leader says the release of documents associated with former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun is confirming some suspicions.So far, only a small portion of the thousands and thousands of documents, memos, and notes have been examined. But Dr. Pia de Solenni, director of Life and Women's Issues-Government Affairs at the Family Research Council, says she is not surprised at what has been found.
"No, I'm not surprised. It shows that there really is a political agenda driving a lot of this," she says. "You don't get the sense from what's been revealed so far that this is really about truth or about justice -- but that it's politically driven."
De Solenni is referring to Blackmun's notes indicating that in 1992, it appeared the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the U.S., was about to be overturned. But Justice Anthony Kennedy changed his vote to overturn at the last minute.
According to a Washington Times report, Chief Justice William Rehnquist was in the process of writing the majority opinion when Kennedy, who was among the majority, had second thoughts and sought counsel with Blackmun on a compromise position. Blackmun, who wrote the ruling in Roe in 1973, responded with a scribbled note that said merely: "Roe Sound."
With Kennedy's change of heart, a 5-4 vote flip-flopped in favor of a case that upheld a woman's right to abortion largely free from state regulation.
Since that 1992 ruling, an estimated 15 million more babies have been aborted. De Solenni says it is tragic that the vote of one man has led to the death of millions of unborn children. "The actions of one man determined it, which is disappointing," the ethicist and moral theologian says. "All we needed was one man to do the right thing and the United States would be different today."
Blackmun's papers from 24 years on the high court were made public recently on the fifth anniversary of his death. The 1992 ruling that could have overturned Roe v. Wade came in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. That case involved a Pennsylvania law that specified certain conditions women seeking abortions must meet.
