Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260160
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Burger died of congestive heart failure following a lengthy illness. He served from 1969 to 1985 - the longest tenure this century - as the nation's 15th chief justice.
President Clinton praised Burger as a visionary chief justice. ``His expansive view of the constitution and his tireless service will leave a lasting imprint on the court and our nation,'' Clinton said in a statement from Little Rock, Ark.
Though the late chief justice was appointed as a law-and-order judge, the ``Burger Court'' of the 1970s and early 1980s is best remembered for rulings that established a woman's right to abortion, ordered crosstown busing for school desegregation, outlawed sex discrimination by the government, upheld affirmative action for minorities and - at least for a time - struck down the death penalty.
Faced with colleagues whose views were more liberal than his, Burger often found himself reluctantly joining court rulings and then writing concurring opinions that put a more moderate spin on the outcome.
In Roe vs. Wade, for example, Burger voted with the 7-2 majority in 1973 to strike down a Texas law that made abortion a crime, and he added a separate opinion stating that ``abortion on demand'' was not required. Nonetheless, later rulings made clear that abortion on demand was the law, at least until a pregnant woman reached the third trimester.
Burger was a conservative member of the influential U.S. Court of Appeals during the 1960s, concurrently with the Supreme Court's most liberal period. In several speeches and articles at that time, Burger decried the liberals' willingness to elevate the rights of criminal defendants. He also fretted about the breakdown of law and order in the cities and called for a more ``reasonable balance'' between government authority and the rights of the individual.
Burger was not alone in expressing those views. His words caught the attention of Richard M. Nixon, who was voicing similar themes throughout his campaign for the presidency in 1968.
Nixon promised a shake-up of the high court and a return to law and order if elected. In one of his first moves after he took office, Nixon selected Burger to fill the vacancy left by retiring Earl Warren in 1969.
Burger was born Sept. 17, 1907, in St. Paul, Minn., and spent much of his youth on the 20-acre truck farm his family owned on the outskirts of the city. In high school, he was president of the student council and editor of the school paper. He won letters in football, hockey, swimming and track and field. Upon graduation, he sold life insurance for six years while attending the University of Minnesota and the St. Paul College of Law at night.
Years later, after he was appointed to the court, Burger had a rocky relationship with several of his independent-minded colleagues, who found him to be pompous and petty. Justice Potter Stewart once derided him as the ``show captain'' of the court, and the sunny-sided William J. Brennan dismissed him as a ``dummy'' in front of his clerks. Even his boyhood friend, Harry A. Blackmun, came to despise Burger, noting he was in the ``chief's dog house'' because he had voted the wrong way in one case.
But many others, including former clerks and court employees, said that these portrayals were unfair and misleading. They said that Burger was courteous and kind, even if a bit shy and withdrawn. Several of the justices who disagreed with Burger on legal matters found themselves taken aback by Burger's generosity when they or a family member fell ill.
``We can disagree like hell,'' one justice told a reporter, ``but he can be so kind and gracious, too.''
Burger had a special interest in history, and, not surprisingly, as the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution approached, Burger agreed to lead a commission set up to promote its celebration. Burger was also the 20th chancellor of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. In 1986, distressed that the bicentennial celebration was behind schedule, Burger made a decision that surprised nearly everyone in Washington, including the White House.
At age 79, he said he was ready to leave the duties of the court.
Burger is survived by a son, Wade, and a daughter, Margaret, and two grandchildren. His wife of 61 years, Elvera, died last year.
by CNB