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Chief Justice Burger was famously known as someone who "looked the part," dignified in appearance with silver hair and possessing social skills that worked well among top officials in [[Washington, D.C.]]. But his loosely reasoned opinions became fodder for use by the [[liberal]] wing of the Court, as his ''[[Lemon v. Kurtzman]]'' opinion on the [[Establishment Clause]] became a leading precedent for driving religion out of public life. Chief Justice Burger was unable to hold for very long the support of Associate Justice [[Harry Blackmun]], who was appointed by President [[Richard Nixon]] on the hope that Justice Blackmun would follow the lead of his Minnesota colleague.

Chief Justice Burger was famously known as someone who "looked the part," dignified in appearance with silver hair and possessing social skills that worked well among top officials in [[Washington, D.C.]]. But his loosely reasoned opinions became fodder for use by the [[liberal]] wing of the Court, as his ''[[Lemon v. Kurtzman]]'' opinion on the [[Establishment Clause]] became a leading precedent for driving religion out of public life. Chief Justice Burger was unable to hold for very long the support of Associate Justice [[Harry Blackmun]], who was appointed by President [[Richard Nixon]] on the hope that Justice Blackmun would follow the lead of his Minnesota colleague.

In ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', Chief Justice Burger voted with the majority of the court in favor of [[abortion]] but supposedly only did so to enable him to assign the writing of the opinion to Justice Blackmun rather than to Justice [[William Brennan]], who was expected to write a more [[liberal]] decision.<ref>The Chief Justice has the power to assign who writes the opinion for the side that he is on; the writer of the opinion on the other side is determined by the most senior judge on that side.</ref>  As it turned out, Justice Brennan had tremendous influence over the writing of the decision anyway.

In ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', Chief Justice Burger voted with the majority of the court in favor of [[abortion]] but supposedly only did so to enable him to assign the writing of the opinion to Justice Blackmun rather than to Justice [[William Brennan]], who was expected to write a more liberal decision.<ref>The Chief Justice has the power to assign who writes the opinion for the side that he is on; the writer of the opinion on the other side is determined by the most senior judge on that side.</ref>  As it turned out, Justice Brennan had tremendous influence over the writing of the decision anyway.

==External Links==

==External Links==

[[Category:United States Supreme Court Justices]] [[Category:United States Chief Justices]]

[[Category:United States Supreme Court Justices]] [[Category:United States Chief Justices]]