Blackmun a Clerk to His Clerks.–

David Garrow’s long-awaited analysis of Justice Blackmun’s papers is finally up on Legal Affairs. It seems fair, insightful, and scathing. It appears that Blackmun lacked the talent to serve on the Court, deferring to clerks much brighter than he was to an extent that is unacceptable. Further, things got worse in his last few terms (term limits, anyone?). Garrow depicts how Blackmun sometimes served as little more than a cite-checker of his clerks’ work—a division of labor that effectively made the judge a clerk to his own clerks.

Some excerpts from Garrow on the role of clerks in Blackmun’s chambers:

[Clerk Michelle] Alexander gave Blackmun a note that read, “This morning at breakfast you mentioned that you would like to release the death penalty dissent by the end of the calendar year. I think that is wise,” because several pending cases offered appropriate opportunities. In particular, “there is little chance that a better vehicle for your dissent will come along before the end of the year” than Schlup v. Delo, an “extraordinary” capital case. In closing, she stated, “I would love to hear your thoughts.”

Schlup was postponed, however, and Alexander reported that she had reviewed all petitioners with scheduled execution dates. “I recommend that you plan to release your dissent when Malcolm Rent Johnson is executed on January 31,” she wrote. Alexander once again concluded her note by saying, “I’d love to hear your thoughts.” One week later, with Johnson’s execution indefinitely delayed, Alexander advised that “[i]nstead of searching for the ideal vehicle for the dissent, the dissent should be tailored for any death case,” so that it simply could be issued whenever the next execution occurred. Two days later, she told Blackmun that she had revised the existing draft to remove the Gary Graham references, but explained, “I have not altered any of the cites. It is therefore unnecessary for you to recheck the cites for accuracy.”[WOW!!] . . .

Readers of Alexander’s and [clerk Andrew] Schapiro’s memos may rightly wonder who was functioning as a justice, and who as a clerk. Alexander twice told Blackmun, “I would love to hear your thoughts” about the opinion, yet her memos suggest that Blackmun was most concerned with whether he should “recheck the cites.”

No public evidence exists that Blackmun experienced the type of mental decrepitude that marred the final terms of Justices Hugo L. Black, William O. Douglas, and Thurgood Marshall, as detailed in several scholarly studies of the justices’ lives. Nor is there any evidence that a clerk ever determined or altered any of Blackmun’s votes in a case, as did occur with Justice Frank Murphy in the 1940s, or that Blackmun ever voted while failing to understand what he was doing, as Marshall’s case files reveal that he did on at least one occasion. But what transpired in Blackmun’s chambers, especially after 1990, was nonetheless a scandalous abdication of judicial responsibility. . . .

Blackmun must now be seen not only as a justice who evolved toward a more compassionate jurisprudence but as a justice who increasingly ceded far too much of his judicial authority to his clerks.

Some excerpts from Garrow on the lack of respect for other justices:

DURING THE 1991 TERM, TWO OF THE DECADE’S PREMIER CASES, Lee v. Weisman and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, came before the court. Clerks Molly McUsic (who is now a senior fellow at a Maryland-based conservation foundation) and Stephanie Dangel (who is now a lawyer in Pennsylvania) played notable roles in both cases. . . .

[On Casey] Dangel confessed that she was “somewhat ambivalent about what has happened in this case,” for while “there is much to be admired in the formation of the troika and the substance of their opinion, . . . given the middle ground that they have taken, I fear the decision may have the effect of removing abortion from the political agenda just long enough to ensure the re-election of Pres. Bush and the appointment of another nominee from whom the Far Right will be sure to exact a promise to overrule Roe.”
Sketching a three-part outline, Dangel explained that the specifics of the third section “cannot be worked out until AS [Antonin Scalia] has circulated his monstrosity” of a dissent. She explained that “while there may be something to cheer in the troika’s opinion, there is much more to fear from the right. And the difference between the two positions is a single vote a single vote that is up for grabs in the coming election. As you have no doubt gathered, this opinion is more rhetoric than research.”

Dangel concluded by telling Blackmun, “I plan to give you a draft of this opinion late Thursday or early Friday,” but she added, “I think it is preferable to circulate after the conference on Friday,” since the opinion “should ruffle some feathers on the right” and it would be “better to give them a few days to cool off before you have to meet with them again.” She gave Blackmun a partial draft on Sunday, explaining that it was incomplete in part because “the evil nino [Scalia] has yet to circulate.”

Revisions continued during the ensuing week, with Dangel telling Blackmun that “[t]he one ‘substantive’ decision you will have to make is whether you want to go with an ending that links the future of reproductive rights to the upcoming election (or confirmation process) in the manner that my earlier draft did. It’s pretty radical. . . .” A day later, Dangel notified Blackmun that she had changed the ending so that “it now reads less as a battle cry, and more as a lament,” and she followed up with another memo reporting that a Stevens clerk had said the Blackmun opinion would further politicize the decision. “I hope you don’t feel that we were pressuring you too much on the final section of this opinion. You certainly should not include it if you feel uncomfortable,” Dangel wrote. She added, however, that “this is not just about abortion or this Term,” because “the Justices who get appointed in the next few years are going to make up the Court for most of my life!”

Dangel closed by remarking that “while this is completely inappropriate, I cannot help [but] be disappointed with JPS [John Paul Stevens]” both in Casey and in two other cases where he diverged from Blackmun. “The people of America need someone to tell them the truth. And, as the author of Roe, I think you’re the only person who can do it.” Later that day, Dangel informed Blackmun that Kennedy had had a clerk pass along his concern about how the Blackmun draft referred to Rehnquist simply as “the Chief.” “While I have my doubts as to whether he deserves to be call[ed] ‘Justice’ on this one,” Dangel told Blackmun, “I guess there’s no need to ruffle feathers needlessly.”

The partisan politics evident in McUsic’s and Dangel’s memos should not have been tolerated by any justice, liberal or conservative, and no similarly intemperate statements appear in clerks’ memos to Brennan, Marshall, or Powell. In addition, the hostile and sometimes harshly sarcastic references to other justices–and Blackmun’s failure to stop such comments–appear to indicate that the justice himself lacked respect for some of his colleagues.

There is much more on Blackmun in the print version of Legal Affairs. And then Linda Greenhouse’s Bernstein links a story about Garrow’s piece on Law.com.