On This Date in Minnesota History: January 22

January 22, 1973 – The U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade abortion ruling was announced on this date. Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, childhood friends from St. Paul, Minn., were keys figures in this decision, but not in the way most people expected. Burger and Blackmun were conservatives, and much to the surprise and delight of pro-choice advocates, they “joined in Roe’s 7-2 majority, agreeing that a right to privacy extended to a woman’s abortion choice. Blackmun wrote the majority opinion. Burger wrote a separate concurrence.”

http://mn70s.tumblr.com/post/16282092007/roe-v-wade-and-the-minnesota-twins

Chief Justice Warren Burger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Warren_e_burger_photo.jpeg

Associate Justice Harry Blackmun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun#mediaviewer/File:Justice_Blackmun_Official.jpg