noncontroversial guy to stick in that spot, justice blackman would go on just a couple of years later to write one of the most controversial u.s. supreme court opinions ever. the court said in a 7-2 decision that in the first three months of pregnancy only the woman and her physician may decide whether she may have an abortion. in the second three months all the state may do is regulate abortion procedures. and only in the final three months of pregnancy can the state forbid abortion. all 50 states are effective whatever their loss. it wasn t a closed decision. it was decided by a big majority, 7-2. but it was harry blackman who wrote the opinion for the seven member majority, and for that reason harry blackman became the first of that ruling, the face of roe v. wade. five years after his death his
as always, thank you for being here with us from our nbc studios in new york. good evening. thanks for joining us this hour. happy to have you with us. we ve been on the road. we went producers out across the country to pull together a really important story tonight about something that is happening right now with historic implications. the story here tonight begins with this guy. this is harry blackman. he was from minnesota, conservative lawyer, a judge first appointed to the federal bench by dwight eisenhower. he became richard nixon s second apointment to the united states supreme court. but blackman was not the first pick. the first picks got dissected during the confirmation process.
learned that harry blackman saved everything, everything, in the 1,500 plus boxes of documents he donated to the library of congress, you can find everything from hotel receipts to tennis scores to dance cards from childhood, private notes between justice in the supreme court. and it turns out when you are the guy who wrote the roe vs. wade decision and you re also a guy who keeps everything, that means you re a guy who has held onto a pile of hate mail and death wishes and threats. ten years after roe in 1983 according to reporting by the associated press, the supreme court had received 45,000 letters about roe vs. wade, most of them addressed to justice blackman. justice blackman said at the time, quote, we still receive, 8, 9, 10 letters a day. some are very supportive, very lovely messages, but most are very abusive.
among the reasons put forward to impeach trump is that he asked a foreign government to investigate a political rooiiva joe biden, but is there ever an example where a president is justified to do so. and if he truly believed a crime was committed is he in the wrong to pursue it? joining us now is a professor at ohio state university s loot where he directs the election law program. he clerked for supreme court justice harry blackman and wrote this piece in politico. is it ever okay for a president to ask a foreign country to investigate a political rival. i want to drill down on the specific legal issue that could confront the senate. i would point out that section
here is the setup, the framers could not have foreseen abortion, it s nowhere in the constitution. harry black man had an opinion to write in roe versus wade he goes to a medical hospital at the mayo clinic and comes back with the theory of trimesters. ar-15s are nowhere in the constitution. framers couldn t have foreseen them. how has the second amendment grown up with us? the framers were not thinking about ak 45s. when th7s. they were scared about the federal standing army and people organizing themselves in state militia could take up arms and protect their liberties. they didn t think whether it was an individual or collective right. only two states, pennsylvania and vermont talked about right to bear arms for self-defense. the rest of the states talk about state militia defending