U.S. Supreme Court as Configured at the Time of Roe v. Wade (Burger seated at center; Blackmun standing third from left)

Two Minnesotans figured prominently in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, announced on January 22, 1973. Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun were childhood friends who grew up in St. Paul. Both were considered reliable conservatives. But much to the consternation of abortion opponents—and the delight of abortion rights advocates—the “Minnesota Twins” 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. In the years that followed, the two Minnesotans became personally and professionally estranged as Blackmun drifted to the ideological left and Burger remained anchored on the right.

Photo via Minnesota Historical Society