The two men have been very intimate and reliable friends throughout their lives.

For most of their lives, the two men had shared confidences, swapped advice and supported each other’s ambitions. The dozens of letters that Justice Blackmun saved document a relationship of sometimes startling intimacy.

Consider three major recent California earthquakes: Loma Prieta in 1989, with a 6.9 magnitude, Northridge in 1994, with a 6.7 magnitude, and San Simeon/Paso Robles on December 22,2003, with a 6.5 magnitude. These relatively strong earthquakes in California resulted in a total of 125 deaths, while this week’s Iranian quake, with a somewhat lesser magnitude, claimed 40,000 lives.