Portraits of two famous Minnesota members of the U.S. Supreme Court -- Chief Justice Warren Burger and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun -- were unveiled today in downtown St. Paul.

In addition to being colleagues on the high court, both grew up on St. Paul's East Side.

Artist Merry DeCourcy -- herself married to a member of the judiciary, Ramsey County Judge Michael DeCourcy -- painted the portraits, which will hang in the fourth-floor Chief Justice Room at Landmark Center. A private unveiling ceremony Thursday night brought together members of the U.S. District Court, the Minnesota Supreme Court, local law firms and Burger and Blackmun family members. Both justices are deceased.

The ceremony included remarks by former Burger law clerks Mike Wahoske and Jim Volling, former Blackmun law clerk John Windhorst Jr., and local lawyer and historian Tom Boyd.  Retired Justice Esther Tomljanovich of the Minnesota Supreme Court read remarks from Sally Blackmun, the justice’s daughter, who was unable to attend.