WASHINGTON — Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a lifelong bachelor who was renowned for his love of a simple life in New Hampshire and dislike of Washington, died at home on Thursday at the age of 85, the court said in a statement.
Plucked from relative obscurity to serve on the Supreme Court, Souter gravely disappointed conservatives whose hopes that he would be a reliable conservative vote were quickly dashed as he aligned with more liberal justices on issues like abortion.
“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 a statement. “He will be greatly missed.”
Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to replace liberal Justice William Brennan, Souter was viewed as a stealth candidate, someone who Republicans hoped could be easily confirmed but would prove to be a solid conservative.
Souter, little known outside of New England, was duly confirmed by the Senate in a 90-9 vote.
He quickly surprised both his supporters and opponents by forging a path as a moderate on the court who, as time passed, became a solid liberal vote on issues like abortion, the death penalty and LGBTQ rights.
He was a low-key figure who steered clear of Washington cocktail parties and lived a frugal life, visiting his family home in New Hampshire as often as possible. He was known to enjoy a simple lunch of yogurt and a whole apple, including the core.
In some ways, one of his biggest legacies was the impact he had on conservative legal activists, who vowed to ensure that a Republican president never appointed another justice who was not properly vetted in order to ensure the nominee would be a rock-solid conservative. “No more Souters” became a rallying cry on the right.
Subsequent Republican nominees have all shifted the court, which now has a 6-3 conservative majority, further to the right.
That Souter was to fall short of conservative expectations became crystal clear in 1992 when the Supreme Court considered a major challenge to abortion rights, then enshrined in law under the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Conservatives had hoped that, with a conservative majority on the court, the case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, would lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned.
But instead, Souter joined two other Republican appointees — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justice Anthony Kennedy — in crafting a decision that upheld what they called the “essential holding” of Roe while making significant changes to the legal test for upholding abortion restrictions.
It would be another 30 years before the court, now with a more reliable conservative majority, would overturn Roe.
Souter also dissented along with his liberal colleagues in 2000 when the court in the Bush v. Gore decision stopped the vote recount in Florida, thereby ensuring that Republican candidate George W. Bush became president.
In 2009, at the relatively young age of 69, Souter gave up his lifetime appointment to return to New Hampshire. That he chose to leave the court under President Barack Obama, allowing a Democratic president to replace him, emphasized how much he was now perceived as a key part of the liberal bloc. Obama then appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina to serve on the court.
Born in Massachusetts, Souter obtained both undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard and was also a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University.
He worked as a lawyer in New Hampshire and eventually became the state’s attorney general in 1976. Two years later, he became a state judge before being elevated to the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1983. Prior to his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, Souter served briefly as a federal appeals court judge.
