WASHINGTON — Retired Justice David Souter, who joined the U.S. Supreme Court as a supposed conservative “stealth nominee” but instead emerged as a liberal justice who backed abortion rights and dissented in the 2000 ruling that gave the presidency to Republican George W. Bush, died Thursday. He was 85.
Souter, who served 19 years on the court before retiring in 2009, died peacefully at his home in New Hampshire, the court said in a statement on Friday.
“Justice David Souter served our Court with great distinction for nearly twenty years. He brought uncommon wisdom and kindness to a lifetime of public service,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in the statement. “He will be greatly missed.”
When liberal stalwart William Brennan suddenly retired from the nation’s top judicial body in 1990, Republican President George H.W. Bush chose Souter, then an obscure federal judge from New Hampshire with almost nothing known about his views on major issues.
Bush, in selecting Souter, said he was familiar with his nominee’s “general views” but did not apply “the litmus test approach” on abortion or other issues. White House officials at the time assured conservative Republicans that Souter would be a “home run” when it came to his legal views.
During his Senate confirmation hearings, the Harvard Law School graduate who had served as New Hampshire’s attorney general and a state court judge was dubbed the “stealth nominee,” with U.S. liberals fearful and abortion rights groups announcing their opposition.
But Souter instead became a favorite of American liberals and a source of immense disappointment to conservatives. He supported abortion rights in a 1992 ruling that reaffirmed the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized the procedure nationwide, as well as backing affirmative action programs to help minorities overcome past discrimination and campaign finance restrictions aimed at combating political corruption.
Souter joined three liberal justices in dissent in the 5-4 Bush v. Gore ruling that ended a recount of ballots in Florida and effectively declared Republican George W. Bush, the son of the president who appointed him, the winner of the 2000 U.S. presidential election over Democrat Al Gore.
“There is no justification for denying the state the opportunity to try to count all disputed ballots now,” Souter wrote in dissent.
Souter announced his retirement at age 69, just months after George W. Bush left office — denying the son of the man who appointed him the chance to replace him and giving that opportunity to Barack Obama, a Democratic president.
‘Fair-minded and independent judge’
Obama lauded Souter when the justice retired as a “fair-minded and independent judge.”
“He came to the bench with no particular ideology. He never sought to promote a political agenda. And he consistently defied labels and rejected absolutes, focusing instead on just one task: reaching a just result in the case that was before him,” Obama said. “He approached judging as he approaches life, with a feverish work ethic and a good sense of humor, with integrity, equanimity and compassion — the hallmark of not just being a good judge, but of being a good person.”
It marked the first time a Democratic president got to appoint a justice in 15 years. Obama picked liberal Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic person ever to become a justice.
Souter also voted in cases to limit the use of the death penalty and in favor of the legal rights of the foreign terrorism suspects detained under George W. Bush at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey was perhaps the biggest disappointment to conservatives who had hoped the court would use the case to overturn Roe, which had recognized the constitutional right to abortion. The 5-4 decision instead reaffirmed Roe and set a new standard barring regulations that imposed an “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion.
Souter contributed to an opinion in the case emphasizing that the justices must follow precedent and resist outside political pressures. To overturn the abortion ruling would undermine the court’s legitimacy, Souter warned. In 2022, the court, by that time with a 6-3 conservative majority, overturned Roe, a decision that led to numerous states imposing bans.
‘Annual intellectual lobotomy’
During arguments before the court, Souter was known for a quick wit and intellectually challenging questions.
Off the bench, the reclusive bachelor avoided the public eye, sticking to a small circle of friends from New Hampshire, watching a black-and-white television and bringing his lunch of yogurt and an apple to the court each day. Souter, who lived in a small, sparsely furnished apartment not far from the court, usually drove himself to and from work in a Volkswagen.
Souter treasured his privacy, disliked Washington life, avoided giving interviews to the news media and rarely gave public speeches or attended social functions in the U.S. capital. In one public speech a couple of months before he announced his retirement, Souter indicated he would rather spend his time reading books than being on the bench, saying he undergoes a “sort of annual intellectual lobotomy” as the court’s annual term begins each October.
“I cram what I can into the summertime,” Souter said of reading books.
Souter appeared to cherish his anonymity, telling a congressional committee in 1996 that cameras would televise Supreme Court proceedings “over my dead body.”
Souter told the story of meeting several people who mistook him for his colleague, Justice Stephen Breyer. When one of them asked what he most liked about the Supreme Court, he answered, “Working with Justice Souter.”
David Hackett Souter was born September 17, 1939, in Weare, N.H., where he was living at the time of his nomination as the sole occupant of the family farmhouse. He was the only child of a bank officer father and homemaker mother.
In 1990, the elder Bush first picked Souter to serve on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before promoting him to the Supreme Court just months later. Previously, Souter spent 12 years as a state superior and supreme court judge in New Hampshire. He was state attorney general for two years, succeeding his friend, the former U.S. senator, Warren Rudman.
Souter graduated from Harvard University with honors and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford before graduating from Harvard Law School.
Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Will Dunham and editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard Goller, Reuters News Agency
