Thomas Daschle: “for 24 years Justice Harry Blackmun gave voice on the highest court in this land to ordinary Americans. He gave…”

“for 24 years Justice Harry Blackmun gave voice on the highest court in this land to ordinary Americans. He gave voice--in his own words--to ``the little guy.'' Early this morning, that voice was silenced. Harry Blackmun died at the age of 90. He was an extraordinary man and a quintessential American. His tenure on the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court extended through the terms of nine Presidents. Years ago, Justice Blackmun predicted the first thing obituary writers would say of him today is that he was the man who wrote Roe v. Wade, and that clearly was the best known and most controversial decision in Justice Blackmun's career. But Harry Blackmun stood for much more than that. He was regarded by many as the Justice most insistent that the Court confront the reality of the problems it considered and the real-world consequences of those decisions. In a dissenting opinion, he once challenged what he called ``the comfortable perspective'' from which his fellow Justices ruled that a $40 fee did not limit a poor woman's right to choose.”