David Hackett Souter
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office  October 9, 1990
Nominated by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	William J. Brennan
Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
In office May 25, 1990 – October 9, 1990
Nominated by	George H. W. Bush
Attorney General of New Hampshire
In office 1976 – 1978
Preceded by	Warren Rudman
Deputy Attorney General of New Hampshire
In office 1971 – 1976
Born	September 17, 1939 (1939-09-17) (age 68) Melrose, Massachusetts
Religion	Episcopalian

For the Australian artist, see David Henry Souter.

David Hackett Souter (born September 17, 1939) has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1990. He filled the seat vacated by William J. Brennan. Appointed to the Court by Republican President George H. W. Bush, he usually votes with the liberal wing, though not as consistently as his predecessor. He currently ranks fourth in seniority among the Associate Justices. This is the official portrait of Justice David Souter. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Open seat redirects here. ... is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... William J. Brennan, official portrait, 1976. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Maine District of Massachusetts District of New Hampshire District of Puerto Rico District of Rhode Island The court is based at the John Joseph... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... The New Hampshire Attorney General is a constitutional officer of the state, under Part II, Article 46 of the New Hampshire Constitution and is appointed by the Governor with approval of the Council to serve a four year term. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Warren Bruce Rudman (born May 18, 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American Senator from New Hampshire. ... The New Hampshire Attorney General is a constitutional officer of the state, under Part II, Article 46 of the New Hampshire Constitution and is appointed by the Governor with approval of the Council to serve a four year term. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area and Middlesex County, Massachusetts. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... -1... David Henry Souter (1862 – 1935) was an Australian artist and journalist. ... is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym SCOTUS[1]) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. ... This article is about the year. ... William J. Brennan, official portrait, 1976. ... GOP redirects here. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ...

Legal and judicial career

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Souter worked as an associate at Orr & Reno in Concord, New Hampshire from 1966 to 1968. He accepted a position as an Assistant Attorney General of New Hampshire in 1968, beginning his lifelong career in public service. As Assistant Attorney General he worked in the criminal division, prosecuting cases in the courts. In 1971, Warren Rudman, then the Attorney General of New Hampshire, selected him to be the Deputy Attorney General. Harvard Law School (colloquially, Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. ... Location in Merrimack County, New Hampshire Coordinates: Country United States State New Hampshire County Merrimack County Incorporated 1733  - City Manager Thomas J. Aspell, Jr. ... For other uses, see New Hampshire (disambiguation). ... Warren Bruce Rudman (born May 18, 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American Senator from New Hampshire. ...

In 1976, Rudman resigned to enter private practice and Souter succeeded him as the Attorney General of New Hampshire. In 1978, he was named an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, and was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 1983. The New Hampshire Attorney General is a constitutional officer of the state, under Part II, Article 46 of the New Hampshire Constitution and is appointed by the Governor with approval of the Council to serve a four year term. ... The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire, and its sole appellate court seated in Concord. ...

David Souter became a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on May 25, 1990, having been nominated January 24, 1990. His old friend Warren Rudman (who had since been elected a Senator) and former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu - then chief of staff to President George H. W. Bush - were instrumental in both his nomination and his confirmation to the Supreme Court. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Maine District of Massachusetts District of New Hampshire District of Puerto Rico District of Rhode Island The court is based at the John Joseph... Warren Bruce Rudman (born May 18, 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American Senator from New Hampshire. ... John Henry Sununu (born July 2, 1939 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Governor of New Hampshire (1983-89) and former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ...

Later that year, President Bush nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on July 25, 1990, (see [1]), and he took his seat on October 9, 1990, shortly after the United States Senate confirmed him by a vote of 90 to 9 after the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the nomination by a vote of 14-3. The press called him the "stealth justice" since his professional record provoked no real controversy, and provided very little paper trail. is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate, the upper house of the United States Congress. ...

Souter, along with former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Stephen Breyer, has a reputation for being a strong guardian of the Court's institutional integrity. A traditionalist in this regard, he famously stated, in response to proposals to videotape oral arguments before the Supreme Court, "I can tell you the day you see a camera come into our courtroom, it's going to roll over my dead body." He has also served as the Court's designated representative to Congress on at least one occasion, testifying before committees of that body about the Court's needs for additional funding to refurbish its building and for other projects. William H. Rehnquist has served as the Chief Justice of the United States since 1986. ... Stephen Gerald Breyer (born August 15, 1938) is an American attorney, political figure, and jurist. ...

Initially, from 1990-93, he tended to be a conservative-leaning Justice, although more in the mold of Anthony Kennedy than Antonin Scalia or William Rehnquist. In Souter's first year, Souter and Scalia voted alike close to 85 percent of the time; Souter voted with Kennedy and O'Connor about 97 percent of the time. The symbolic turning point came in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Court reaffirmed the essential holding in Roe v. Wade. Souter and Anthony Kennedy each considered overturning Roe and upholding all the restrictions at issue in Casey. After consulting with O'Connor, however, the three (who came to be known as the "troika") developed a joint opinion which upheld all the restrictions in the Casey case except for the mandatory notification of a husband while asserting the essential holding of Roe, that a right to an abortion is protected by the Constitution. Casey was decided by a 5 to 4 vote. Although appointed by a Republican president, and thus expected to be conservative (see Segal-Cover score), Souter is now considered part of the liberal wing of the Court. This article is about the Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. ...   (born March 11, 1936[1]) is an American jurist and the second most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Holding A Pennsylvania law that required spousal notification prior to obtaining an abortion was invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment because it created an undue burden on married women seeking an abortion. ... Holding Texas law making it a crime to assist a woman to get an abortion violated her due process rights. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... Segal-Cover scores attempt to measure the relative liberalism or conservatism of United States Supreme Court justices. ...

After he was sworn in he said, "The first lesson, simple as it is, is that whatever court we're in, whatever we are doing, at the end of our task some human being is going to be affected. Some human life is going to be changed by what we do. And so we had better use every power of our minds and our hearts and our beings to get those rulings right."

Personal

Souter enjoys mountain climbing in New Hampshire during the judicial off-season. He is co-chair of the We the People National Advisory Committee. Justice Souter is not married, though he was once engaged. For other uses, see New Hampshire (disambiguation). ...

Because he joined the Court's decision in Kelo v. New London, some New Hampshire residents, backed primarily by the Free State project, attempted to secure an eminent domain seizure of Souter's personal residence for the Lost Liberty Hotel with a dining room called the Just Desserts Cafe.^[1] Holding The governmental taking of property from one private owner to give to another in furtherance of economic development constitutes a permissible public use under the Fifth Amendment. ... The Lost Liberty Hotel or Lost Liberty Inn was a proposed hotel on the site of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souters properties. ...

According to Jeffrey Toobin's book The Nine, Souter has a decidedly low-tech lifestyle. He writes with a fountain pen and does not use email. He has no cell phone, no answering machine, and no television.

References

External links

• Supreme court official bio (PDF)
• Project Vote Smart - Associate Justice David Hackett Souter profile

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Supreme Court of the United States

The Rehnquist Court Chief Justice: William Hubbs Rehnquist (1986–2005) 1990–1991: B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter 1991–1993: B. White | H. Blackmun | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas 1993–1994: H. Blackmun | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg 1994–2005: J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg | S. Breyer The Roberts Court Chief Justice: John Glover Roberts, Jr. (2005-present) 2005–2006: J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg | S. Breyer 2006–present: J.P. Stevens | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg | S. Breyer | S. Alito