Roe v. Wade: The Banality of Evil in Mr. Justice Blackmun

1/21/2013

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is it "right" that women should become"emancipated" by murdering children is a question that apparently never traveled through the banal mind of Mr. Justice Blackmun.

It's hard to remember any of the hundreds of opinions authored by Justice Blackmun and upon which he devoted his life's labor. Certainly, the opinion that won him most acclaim and earned him most excoriation (and will surely play the most importance for him in the Final Judgment) was Roe v. Wade. One may perhaps say that Roe v. Wade is a lasting testament of Justice Blackmun, a summing up of who he was and what he stood for. The opinion has his last words to man and to the one true God because they are his loudest, his bloodiest, and his most banally evil.

Roe v. Wade is in fact a death sentence, though it doesn't sound like it. A man who was overtly evil would have written, "Kill the children, the 14th Amendment demands it." A good man who was guided by the natural moral law would have written something along the lines of "the fetus is a person under the 14th Amendment." A cowardly jurist or principled federalist would have avoided the question and said the Constitution does not address, and it is a matter reserved to the States. But not the banal little Mr. Justice Blackmun.

When one reads the "fearsome, word-and-thought" of Roe v. Wade forty years from the date it was written one learns nothing of Constitutional jurisprudence. Nothing. The opinion is a Constitutional farce.

One does, however, learn volumes about what Arendt called "the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil" when one looks at the opinion with the knowledge of the 50 million of Americans sentenced to death by Justice Blackmun's loose pen, banal mind, and febrile liberal lunacy that swore he saw shadows and eerie lights in the Constitution that no normal man could could see.

In moral terms, Justice Blackmun was close to lunacy. He was a moral schizophrenic. The man wholly insensitive to the death of millions of which he was a cause was unbelievably offended by the death of one or the death of hundreds caused by others for the very simple reason (since the offense was based not on reason but on feeling) that he felt offended.

For example, towards the end of his tenure, Justice Blackmun grew intransigent, self-righteous in his opposition to the death penalty. "From this day forward," he wrote in his dissent in Callins v. Collins, "I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death." The moral dyslexia in the man is apparent.

How can the man who not only tinkered, but invented the "machinery of death" we call the abortion industry, that juggernaut of death that has killed fifty of millions of Americans, have felt moral offense at capital punishment which, in the same period, has resulted in the death of a few thousands? There is not even any moral equivalency in the matter. Did you ever consider that you were choking on the gnat while swallowing the camel, Mr. Justice Blackmun? (Cf. Matt. 23:24)

Oh, like Eichmann, Blackmun could feel emotion, even tenderness, but even his emotion was banal because it was so arbitrary. "Poor Joshua," Blackmun famously wrote in his dissent in the 1989 case of DeShaney v. Winnebago County, the tragic case involving the four-year old Joshua DeShaney beaten by his father into a coma and not saved by the State. "It's a sad commentary upon American life."

"In the absence of faith," and Mr. Justice Blackmun really had nothing other than conventional faith which is no faith at all, "we govern by tenderness" wrote Flannery O'Connor. "And tenderness," she continued, "leads to the gas chamber," and if not to the gas chamber, its moral equivalent : the abortion clinic.

Why should Justice Blackmun believe it right to say, "Poor Joshua," in DeShaney v. Winnebago County, but forget about the 50 million Joshuas, Jacobs, Josephs, Janets, Julies, and Jennifers whom his pen in Roe v. Wade nonchalantly allowed to die and be put in trashbins or incinerators or used by science or in cosmetics?

Oh tenderhearted Mr. Justice Blackmun, is not your Roe v. Wade a "sad commentary upon American life," indeed upon your own moral banality?

Unlike Eichmann, who was hung to death and whose body was cremated so as not to detract devotees, Justice Blackmun was called "your Honor" all his life, was called "honorable" beyond his death, was laid in state in the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court, and was buried with honors at Arlington Cemetery. Be not fooled: from a moral standpoint, they are the same.

But these honors mean nothing before terrible Judgment Seat of God. That is the real terrible and awful "end of the line" in the "case" of one's life. Then there is really no further place to go. Then the decisions we made in life had better have been "right," and not in any banal sense, but in God's sense.

At the Last Judgment, the 50 million murdered with Justice Blackmun's complicity since Roe v. Wade will receive justice, and, we must believe in some manner that Mr. Justice Blackmun will be on the opposite side of that terrible and awful sentence of the Lord. God's doom will be his doom. Blackmun's plea of innocence will be drowned out by the cries of 50 million witnesses against him, just like the voices of the millions upon millions of Jews will cry out against the pleas of Eichmann.

But Blackmun has already suffered his particular judgment, and wherever God's judgment has sent him, an answer I do not claim to know, I feel certain that Blackmun has a companion, even a friend if banal humans can have friends. His companion's name is Eichmann. They will be in the banal man's heaven, full of banal souls, which to me sounds a lot like one of the circles of Hell. There, they will eternally wonder, for banality is not lost unless lost on earth through repentance and penance, what wrong they have done to have deserved so dismal a fate.

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Harry Blackmun, Roe v Wade, Doe v Bolton, particular judgement, Pro-Life, Abortion, Right to Life, March for Life, US Supreme Court, Andrew M. Blackwell

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1 - 10 of 29 Comments

Harry Reyhing
3 months ago
Mr Greenwell My apologies to you.Point taken.Im sorry I took the ending too literal.It is an excellent article.I just am sick of liberal priests out there who have greatly watered down God's word since vatican 2.For instance some say that the catholic church teaches that no one is in hell.That is universalism and is a greatheresy.But what the church says is we cant say a PARTICULAR person is in hell.Because that person may have repented beforedeath and made it to heaven.But by the same token we cannotsay a particualrp[erson is in heaven because maybe a godly catholic in his last years ecame an immoral wicked atheist and died and went tohell.What the church does teach is heaven and hell is very populated but only God knows whomadeit or who didnt.Thats the realteaching.But thanks Great article
angie
3 months ago
at first while i was reading i agreed with everything that was being said then i took a break then came back to finish........and now as much as I still agree that the "...banality of morals has indeed led to an endless line of deaths..." I am not sure focusing the article on one individual was the right approach...The approach could have ruined this man's chances of conversion...its never good to focus on the sinner rather the sin especially if its in public....moreover in a catholic website...am sorry the approach has not impressed me; God's mercy is to be shown to all as the sun rises to the good and the evil....the article should have taken a closer look at the judgement,its effect then and now and how banal morals were the cause....the banal morals of this particular individual was plainly in poor taste not to ever dare look at its effect on the soul....
Louis Barta
3 months ago
Another brilliant commentary by Mr. Andrew M. Greenwell. Esq., that unfortunately (and myopically) short-circuited into Holocaust propaganda by stating "millions upon millions of Jews will cry out against the pleas of Eichmann." At that time, no such large numbers of Jews (communists) dwelt within the Third Reich's sphere of tyranny. Many fled or were expelled.The vast majority of the Reich's victims were Christians and non-Jews. Don't they count? If so, why weren't they even mentioned?
Emma
3 months ago
FYI .....please register to attend this webcast tonight. Hosts are trying to set a record. 40daysforlife.org to register or for more info.
Andrew M. Greenwell
3 months ago
@harry reyhing. Do not take the ending to be theologically rigorous; you must give me some poetic license. It is in fact kind of tongue in cheek and trying softly to suggest where Blackmun may be. It is somewhere along the line of C. S. Lewis' quip that he could see how a hell for humans and a heaven for mosquitoes could be conveniently combined. A banal "heaven" is a literary euphemism for Hell.
michael
3 months ago
Excellent article...two things should be emphasized. First, Blackmun was appointed by a Republican named Nixon..enough said. Furthermore, the "inspiration" from Harry's decision came not only from Lucifer and his usual offspring, but also from Justice Brennan, Roman Catholic, who was the brains behind the decision. Secondly, all of these issues are not a part of supernatural revelation essentially, but rather something that can be arrived at by human reason. All men are bound to follow the natural moral law, including those things surrounding abortion, sterilization, contraception, and sodomitical activity. There are many souls going to hell for such crimes and not all are Catholic.
EJH
4 months ago
"Many Americans rightly place more value on the lifetime of a 13 year old victim of rape or incest than on the potential life of the product of such an evil act. Those Americans are protected by our constitution - through the Supreme Court - from those who would impose their version of morality on us all."

It is not a "potential life" but a human life.
So you want to punish the innocent victims: the 13 y/o old and the unborn baby with an abortion? Not only will the 13 y/o suffer the trauma of rape but also the traumatic experience that is abortion and the post traumatic stress disorder that oftentimes comes along after an abortion.
Why should the unborn baby be punished for the crime? Shouldn't we punish the real criminal in this case and not these innocents? Are you not imposing your own morality as well in this case?
harry reyhing
4 months ago
Great article.But I dont like the ending.what do u mean t6hat Eichman and Blackmun are in some banal heaven?What are you talking about?Both men IF they died unrepentent are in hell according to the Bible and 2000 years of church teaching.Unless you are one of the phony liberal post vat 2 catholics who water down Gods clear truth on hell.Both men if they truly repented could have made heaven after perhaps a long stay in purgatory.But if unrepentent they died with a mountain of mortal sins on their soul and are in hell
Father James Farfaglia
4 months ago
To Mr. Mark Holder - You are more than welcome to post any opinion on this website. But, please be open to honest, sincere and objective discussion: not ad hominem, but ad rem. Having said that, please feel free to read and listen to my Sunday homily for this weekend at http://www.fatherjames.org/2013/01/18/building-a-culture-of-life/.
johnblaster
4 months ago
Mark Holder, I regret to inform you that you suffer from a lack of understanding on Catholic teaching. As you readily admit, you being a non-catholic you are not aware of Catholic teaching concerning contraception. Contraception is an evil that has led to many of the issues we face in our society today such as underpopulation where we as humanity are no longer replacing ourselves. In reference to your comment earlier on, the 'potential' life is not potential at all. It is a human being! I would agree with you that the victim needs to be cared for! Amen to that! However, the child that was conceived due to the rape/ incest did not choose to be in that situation. That is something that we as humans have understood for a long time. That we do not choose what social class, family or situation we are born into! Therefore, I would argue that the child in the womb of the rape victim would much rather have a father who loves and cares both the child AND the mother. Also, I would like to point out that the child in the womb is having another persons morality (or lack of) forced on them when they are not afforded the basic rights that should be granted unto them. Lastly, the Supreme Court was in direct violation of their Consitutional boundaires when they ruld on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Balton. It is sad that we had nine justices that ruled on a law that was never a law. The issue should have stayd with the states instead of being tackled by our federal government. This is where the issues of homosexual 'marriage' and abortion should stay. Thank you for your comments, they were a pleasure to read!

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