An interesting friendship

My dad sent me this article about the rocky friendship between two of the more recent U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Warren Burger and Harry Blackmun. They knew each other since they were in kindergarten and were very good friends for much of their adult life, but though they worked closer than ever once on the court, a distance began to develop between them. It's a fascinating and pretty affecting article.

.

Friends for Decades, but Years on Court Left Them Strangers

A couple good quotes:

1.
[Burger added]...There are few to whom we `romantic idealists' can open up.
You, too, are a `romantic idealist' with oak clusters!"

Judge Blackmun gently reassured him. "Of course, you are a
romantic idealist and perhaps an incurable one and you
always have been. You and I both are," he wrote. "We all
have our frailties but you should never, never be concerned
about yours. You have the corresponding strength which
makes the presence of both features attractive and
desirable."

"oak clusters"? lol, i like that

2.
"These have been great years," the chief justice wrote in
June 1976 to mark the sixth anniversary of Justice
Blackmun's arrival. "I'm glad you've been here. And anyway,
there is no peace and quiet & if we must be in the storms &
turmoil, it's more fun to be in the Big Storms! Many more."