David Hackett Souter

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American lawyer and jurist (1939–2025)

For other people named David Souter, see David Souter (disambiguation) .

David Hackett Souter (/ˈsuːtər/ SOO-tər ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 to 2009.

Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat that had been vacated by William J. Brennan Jr. , Souter was a member of both the Rehnquist and Roberts courts.

Raised in New England , Souter attended Harvard College ; Magdalen College, Oxford ; and Harvard Law School . After briefly working in private practice, he moved to public service. He served as a prosecutor in the office of the Attorney General of New Hampshire (1968–1976); as attorney general of New Hampshire (1976–1978); as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court (1978–1983); as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court (1983–1990); and as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1990).

In mid-2009, after Barack Obama took office as U.S. president, Souter announced his retirement from the Court; he was succeeded by Sonia Sotomayor . Souter continued to hear cases by designation at the circuit court level .

Early life and education

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Souter was born in Melrose, Massachusetts , on September 17, 1939, the only child of Joseph Alexander Souter and Helen Adams (Hackett) Souter.

At age 11, he moved with his family to their farm in Weare, New Hampshire .

Souter graduated second in his class from Concord High School in 1957. He then attended Harvard University , graduating in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts , _magna cum laude _, in philosophy and writing a senior thesis on the legal positivism of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. While at Harvard, Souter was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa . He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (later promoted to a Master of Arts degree, as per tradition ) in Jurisprudence from Magdalen College, Oxford , in 1963. He graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Laws degree from Harvard Law School .

Early career

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In 1968, after two years as an associate at the law firm of Orr & Reno in Concord, New Hampshire , Souter began his career in public service by accepting a position as an assistant attorney general of New Hampshire. In 1971, Warren Rudman , then the attorney general of New Hampshire , selected Souter as deputy attorney general. Souter succeeded Rudman as New Hampshire attorney general in 1976.

In 1978, Souter was named an associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court . With four years of trial court experience, Souter was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1983.

Shortly after George H. W. Bush was sworn in as president, he nominated Souter to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit . Souter had had seven years of judicial experience at the appellate level, four years at the trial court level, and ten years with the attorney general's office. He was confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate on April 27, 1990.

U.S. Supreme Court appointment

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Souter testifying during one of his confirmation hearings

President George H. W. Bush initially considered nominating Clarence Thomas to Brennan's seat, but he and his advisers decided that Thomas did not yet have enough experience as a judge. Warren Rudman , who had since been elected to the U.S. Senate, and former Governor of New Hampshire John H. Sununu , then Bush's chief of staff, suggested Souter, and were instrumental in his nomination and confirmation. Bush was reportedly "highly impressed by Souter's intellectual seriousness" and Souter's intellect, "particularly impressive in one-on-one meetings", was reported to have been a persuasive factor in his nomination.

At the time, few observers outside New Hampshire knew who Souter was,

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Planned Parenthood v. Casey

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In the 1992 case _Planned Parenthood v. Casey _, the Supreme Court upheld the right to abortion as established by the "essential holding" of Roe v. Wade (1973) and issued as its "key judgment" the imposition of the undue burden standard when evaluating state-imposed restrictions on that right. The controlling plurality decision in the case was joined by Souter, Kennedy and O'Connor. Souter is widely believed to have written the section of the opinion that addresses the issue of _stare decisis _ and set out a four-part test in determining whether to overrule a prior decision. David Garrow later called that section "the most eloquent section of the opinion" and said it includes "two paragraphs that rank among the most memorable lines ever authored by an American jurist".

Bush v. Gore

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In 2000, Souter voted along with three other justices in _Bush v. Gore _ to allow the presidential election recount to continue, while the majority voted to end the recount. The decision allowed the declaration of George W. Bush as the winner of the election in Florida to stand.

In his 2007 book _The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court _, Jeffrey Toobin wrote of Souter's reaction to Bush v. Gore:

Toughened, or coarsened, by their worldly lives, the other dissenters could shrug and move on, but Souter couldn't. His whole life was being a judge. He came from a tradition where the independence of the judiciary was the foundation of the rule of law. And Souter believed Bush v. Gore mocked that tradition. His colleagues' actions were so transparently, so crudely partisan that Souter thought he might not be able to serve with them anymore. Souter seriously considered resigning. For many months, it was not at all clear whether he would remain as a justice. That the Court met in a city he loathed made the decision even harder. At the urging of a handful of close friends, he decided to stay on, but his attitude toward the Court was never the same. There were times when David Souter thought of Bush v. Gore and wept.

The above passage was disputed by Souter's longtime friend Warren Rudman. Rudman told the New Hampshire Union Leader that while Souter was discomfited by Bush v. Gore, it was not true that he had broken down into tears over it.