Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2021
In his foreword to a forthcoming issue of the American Journal of Law & Medicine dedicated to Harry A. Blackmun, Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan calls it “superbly right that the American Society of Law & Medicine honors Mr. Justice Harry A. Blackmun with this edition of its Journal.” Last October the Society presented its first Presidents' Award for Outstanding Contributions to Law and Medicine to Justice Blackmun. Justice Blackman attended our Annual General Meeting and a banquet at Boston University School of Law, where he was presented with the award. We found Justice Blackmun to be a gentle, modest man despite the unique illumination and perception that he has contributed to health law in America. “That makes it only the more fitting,” as Justice Brennan says, “that the American Society of Law & Medicine should award this richly deserved honor, in Learned Hand's words, to ‘Acclaim one who—all unaware of his deserts—has so richly earned our gratitude.’”