Editing David Souter (section)

== Early life and education ==
Souter was born in [[Melrose, Massachusetts]], on September 17, 1939, the only child of Joseph Alexander Souter (1904–1976) and Helen Adams (Hackett) Souter (1907–1995).<ref name="biography">Yarbrough, Tinsley E. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mvV0cVeWVmUC&q=david+souter+%22home+run%22 "David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505210016/https://books.google.com/books?id=mvV0cVeWVmUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=david+souter+%22home+run%22&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 |date=May 5, 2021 }}, Oxford University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-19-515933-0}} <!-- accessed 2008-06-27 --></ref><ref name="ref091">[https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/justices/souter.bio.html Biography David Hackett Souter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314174822/http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/justices/souter.bio.html |date=March 14, 2021 }}, Cornell University Law School<!-- accessed 2009-05-03 --></ref> His father was of [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]] ancestry and his mother of [[English Americans|English]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/David-Souter-Associate-Justice-of-the-U-S-Supreme-Court/6000000013205057829 | title=David Souter, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court | date=May 24, 2018 }}</ref> At age 11, he moved with his family to their farm in [[Weare, New Hampshire]].<ref name="biography" />

Souter graduated second in his class from [[Concord High School (New Hampshire)|Concord High School]] in 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/alumni/hist/disting/notables.htm |title=CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL NOTABLES |publisher=Concord High School |access-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221172824/http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/alumni/hist/disting/notables.htm |archive-date=December 21, 2013}}</ref> He then attended [[Harvard University]], graduating in 1961 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]], ''[[Latin honors#magna cum laude|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]].<ref>[http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf Supreme Court Justices Who Are Phi Beta Kappa Members] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928082723/http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf |date=September 28, 2011 }}, Phi Beta Kappa website<!-- accessed October 4, 2009 --></ref> He was selected as a [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (later promoted to a Master of Arts degree, [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|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]].<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/us/david-souter-dead.html|title=David H. Souter, Republican Justice Who Allied With Court's Liberal Wing, Dies at 85|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 9, 2025|accessdate=May 9, 2025}}</ref>