Blackford quickly earned a reputation for being fair and impartial and is regarded as one of the most influential and pivotal members in the court's history. According to Chief Justice Randall Shepherd, he was the most important justice to have ever served on the state courts and was responsible for laying the legal foundation of the state. During his time on the three member court he wrote the majority opinion on 845 of the nearly 2300 cases he presided over. That was more than twice as many decisions authored by any other justice in the court's history and remains a record. Seven other men served with him on the court, including James Scott, Jesse Holman, Stephen Stevens, John McKinney, Jeremiah Sullivan, Charles Dewey, Samuel Perkins, and Thomas Smith.