Editing David Souter (section)

== U.S. Supreme Court ==
[[File:David Souter at HLS 1.jpg|thumb|right|Souter in 2009]]
Souter opposed having cameras in the Supreme Court during oral arguments, saying the media would take questions out of context and the proceedings would be politicized.<ref name="AP">[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/30/us/on-cameras-in-supreme-court-souter-says-over-my-dead-body.html On Cameras in Supreme Court, Souter Says, 'Over My Dead Body'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729085122/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/30/us/on-cameras-in-supreme-court-souter-says-over-my-dead-body.html |date=July 29, 2018 }}, ''The New York Times'', March 30, 1996 <!-- accessed 2009-10-14 --></ref>

Souter served as the Court's designated representative to Congress on at least one occasion, testifying before committees about the Court's needs for additional funding to refurbish its building and for other projects.<ref name="biography" />

=== Judicial philosophy ===
At the time of Souter's appointment, John Sununu assured President Bush and conservatives that Souter would be a "home run" for conservatism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/24/us/conservative-says-sununu-assured-him-on-souter.html|title=Conservative Says Sununu Assured Him on Souter|last1=Shenon|first1=Philip|date=August 24, 1990|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023454/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/24/us/conservative-says-sununu-assured-him-on-souter.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In his testimony before the Senate, Souter was thought by conservatives to be a [[strict constructionism|strict constructionist]] on constitutional matters, but he portrayed himself as an [[Incrementalism|incrementalist]] who disliked drastic change and attached a high importance to precedent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER/pdf/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER.pdf|title=Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate on the Nomination of David H. Souter to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|date=September 19, 1990|website=govinfo.gov|access-date=October 17, 2019|archive-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115202452/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER/pdf/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Roosevelt, Kermit.
[http://www.slate.com/id/2217434/pagenum/all/ Justice CincinnatusDavid Souter—a dying breed, the Yankee Republican] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124054617/http://www.slate.com/id/2217434/pagenum/all |date=January 24, 2010 }}, Slate, May 1, 2009.</ref> In the state attorney general's office and as a state Supreme Court judge, he had never been tested on matters of federal law.<ref name="abc news" />

After the appointment of Clarence Thomas, Souter moved toward the ideological middle.<ref name="nytimes" /> In the 1992 case ''[[Lee v. Weisman]]'', Souter voted with the liberal wing and against allowing prayer at a high school graduation ceremony.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perrin|first=Marilyn|date=1994|title=Lee v. Weisman: Unanswered Prayers|url=http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1573&context=plr|journal=Pepperdine Law Review|volume=21|pages=250|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151021/https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1573&context=plr|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1992 case ''[[Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]'', Souter voted with the moderate wing in a majority decision in which the Court reaffirmed the essential holding in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' but narrowed its scope. Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]] had considered overturning ''Roe'' and upholding all the restrictions at issue in ''Casey.'' Souter considered upholding all the restrictions but was uneasy about overturning ''Roe''. After consulting with O'Connor, the three (who came to be known as "the troika") developed a joint opinion that upheld all the restrictions in ''Casey'' except the mandatory notification of a husband while asserting the essential holding of ''Roe'', that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Whitman|first=Christina|date=June 2002|title=Looking Back on Planned Parenthood v. Casey|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=articles|journal=Michigan Law Review|volume=100|issue=7|pages=1982|doi=10.2307/1556082|jstor=1556082|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=September 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921233900/http://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=articles|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

By the late 1990s, Souter began to align himself more with [[Stephen Breyer]] and [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]], although as of 1995, he sided on more occasions with the more liberal<ref>Rosen, Jeffrey [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/magazine/23stevens-t.html The Dissenter: Majority of One, Stevens at the Supreme Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124133243/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/magazine/23stevens-t.html |date=November 24, 2020 }}, ''The New York Times'', September 23, 2007</ref> justice [[John Paul Stevens]] than with either Breyer or Ginsburg, both Clinton appointees.<ref name="national review">Ponnuru, Ramesh [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v47/ai_17374429 Empty Souter-Supreme Court Justice David Souter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917161658/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v47/ai_17374429 |date=September 17, 2008 }}, ''National Review'', September 11, 1995 <!-- accessdate 2008-06-27 --></ref> On death penalty cases, [[Labor rights|workers' rights]] cases, [[Criminal procedure#Basic rights|defendants' rights]] cases, and other issues, Souter began increasingly voting with the Court's liberals,<ref>See [[Segal–Cover score]].</ref> and later came to be considered part of the Court's liberal wing. Because of this, many conservatives view Souter's appointment as an error of the Bush presidency.<ref>Greenfield, Jeff [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/david-souter-the-supreme-court-justice-who-built-the-trump-court-218953 David Souter: The Justice Who Built The Trump Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710164046/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/david-souter-the-supreme-court-justice-who-built-the-trump-court-218953 |date=July 10, 2018 }} ''Politico Magazine'', July 9, 2018</ref> For example, after widespread speculation that President George W. Bush intended to appoint [[Alberto Gonzales]]—whose perceived views on affirmative action and abortion drew criticism—to the Court, some conservative Senate staffers popularized the slogan "Gonzales is Spanish for Souter".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQxqXLSy9wcC&q=gonzales+is+spanish+for+souter&pg=PA246|title=Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court|last=Greenburg|first=Jan Crawford|date=2007|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594201011|pages=246|language=en|access-date=November 10, 2020|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151022/https://books.google.com/books?id=SQxqXLSy9wcC&q=gonzales+is+spanish+for+souter&pg=PA246|url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, [[Ted Kennedy]], one of nine senators to have voted against Souter's confirmation, later expressed regret about his vote.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Ted Kennedy Discusses Current Congressional Issues|url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/en/date/2001-07-21/segment/00|date = July 21, 2001}}</ref>

A ''Wall Street Journal'' opinion piece ten years after Souter's nomination called Souter a "liberal jurist" and said that Rudman took "pride in recounting how he sold Mr. Souter to gullible White House Chief of Staff John Sununu as a confirmable conservative. Then they both sold the judge to President Bush, who wanted above all else to avoid a confirmation battle."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB951789438683921325|title=Chief Justice Souter?|date=February 29, 2000|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=October 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023452/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB951789438683921325|url-status=live}}</ref> Rudman wrote in his memoir that he had "suspected all along" that Souter would not "overturn activist liberal precedents."<ref name="biography" /> Sununu later said that he had "a lot of disappointment" in Souter's positions on the Court and would have preferred him to be more like [[Antonin Scalia]].<ref name="biography" /> In contrast, President Bush said several years after Souter's appointment that he was proud of Souter's "outstanding" service and "outstanding intellect" and that Souter would "serve for years on the Court, and he will serve with honor always and with brilliance".<ref name=garrow>{{Cite news |last=Garrow |first=David J. |date=September 25, 1994 |title=Justice Souter Emerges |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/25/magazine/justice-souter-emerges.html |access-date=July 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Notable decisions ===
==== ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'' ====
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 ''[[Precedent|stare decisis]]'' and set out a four-part test in determining whether to overrule a prior decision.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wermiel |first=Stephen |date=October 2, 2019 |title=SCOTUS for law students: Supreme Court precedent |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/10/scotus-for-law-students-supreme-court-precedent/ |access-date=July 3, 2022 |website=SCOTUSblog}}</ref> [[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".<ref name=garrow/>

==== ''Bush v. Gore'' ====
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.<ref name="Dersh"/> The decision allowed the declaration of [[George W. Bush]] as the winner of the election in Florida to stand.<ref name="Dersh">{{cite book|last=Dershowitz|first=Alan|url=https://archive.org/details/supremeinjustice00alan_0/page/174|title=Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000|pages=174, 198|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001}}</ref>

In his 2007 book ''[[The Nine (book)|The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court]]'', [[Jeffrey Toobin]] wrote of Souter's reaction to ''Bush v. Gore'':<!-- please do not use template:cquote, as this gives too much weight to these words. -->
{{blockquote|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.<ref name="wsjlawblog">[https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/06/did-bush-v-gore-make-justice-souter-weep/ Did Bush v. Gore Make Justice Souter Weep?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125112833/https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/06/did-bush-v-gore-make-justice-souter-weep/ |date=November 25, 2017 }}, ''The Wall Street Journal'', September 6, 2007<!-- accessdate 2008-06-27 --></ref>}}

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.<ref name="wsjlawblog" />

=== Relationship with other justices ===
[[File:Rehnquist Court in 1994.jpg|thumb|Justice Souter (second from the left in the back row) on the [[Rehnquist Court]]]]
Souter worked well with [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] and had a good relationship with both her and her husband during her days on the court.<ref name="biography" /> He generally had a good working relationship with every justice, but was particularly fond of [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]], and considered [[John Paul Stevens]] to be the "smartest" justice.<ref name="biography" />{{rp|258}}

=== International recognition ===
Even though Souter had never traveled outside the United States during his years with the Supreme Court, he still gained significant recognition abroad. In 1995, a series of articles based on his written opinions and titled "Souter Court" was published by a Moscow legal journal, ''The Russian Justice''. Those were followed by a book, written in Russian and bearing Souter's name in the title.<ref>Петр Баренбойм, "3000 лет доктрины разделения властей: Суд Сьютера", M., 1996. / Petr Barenboim, "3000 years of the separation of powers doctrine: Souter court", Moscow, 1996; 2nd ed., 2003. / {{ISBN|5-7619-0015-7}}, http://lccn.loc.gov/2001434516 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151037/https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2001434516&searchType=1&permalink=y |date=November 8, 2021 }}</ref> Justice of the [[Constitutional Court of Russia|Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation]] Yury Danilov, reviewing the 2nd edition of the book in a Moscow English-language daily, made the following remark on Souter's position in ''[[Bush v. Gore]]'': "In a most critical and delicate situation, David Souter had maintained the independence of his position and in this respect had become a symbol of the independence of the judiciary."<ref>Yury Danilov, The Judiciary: From Samuel to Souter, ''The Moscow News'', October 15, 2003.</ref><ref>Peter Barenboim, [http://www.florentine-society.ru/pdf/Biblical_Roots_of_Separation_of_Powers.pdf «Biblical Roots of Separation of Powers», Moscow, 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102024341/http://www.florentine-society.ru/pdf/Biblical_Roots_of_Separation_of_Powers.pdf |date=November 2, 2012 }}, p.163, {{ISBN|5-94381-123-0}}</ref>

=== Retirement ===
[[File:Justice david souter harvard commencement 2010.JPG|thumb|Souter receiving an honorary degree from [[Harvard University]] on May 27, 2010]]
Long before the election of President Obama, Souter had expressed a desire to leave Washington, D.C., and return to New Hampshire.<ref name=wapo043009>{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Robert |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043004361.html |title=Souter Reportedly Planning to Retire From High Court |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 1, 2009 |access-date=August 26, 2017 |archive-date=April 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401163228/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043004361.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/justice-souter-longs-for-rural-hideaway/|title=Justice Souter longs for rural hideaway|last=Rucker|first=Philip|date=May 3, 2009|website=The Seattle Times|language=en-US|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023501/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/justice-souter-longs-for-rural-hideaway/|url-status=live}}</ref> The election of a Democratic president in 2008 may have made Souter more inclined to retire, but he did not want to create a situation in which there would be multiple vacancies at once.<ref name="npr_20090430">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193|title=Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire|last1=Totenberg|first1=Nina|date=April 30, 2009|work=NPR|access-date=May 29, 2009|archive-date=May 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504031636/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193|url-status=live}}</ref> Souter apparently became satisfied that no other justices planned to retire at the end of the Supreme Court's term in June 2009.<ref name=npr_20090430 /> As a result, in mid-April 2009 he privately notified the White House of his intent to retire at the conclusion of that term.<ref name=nyt_20090528>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |last2=Nagourney |first2=Adam |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28select.html |title=Sotomayor Pick a Product of Lessons From Past Battles |work=The New York Times |date=May 28, 2009 |access-date=May 29, 2009 |archive-date=March 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316085646/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/us/politics/28select.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Souter sent Obama a retirement letter on May 1, effective at the start of the Supreme Court's 2009 summer recess.<ref name="Souter Resignation letter-2009-05-01">{{cite news|work=The New York Times| date = May 1, 2009| title = David H. Souter Letter to President Obama, May&nbsp;1, 2009| url = http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20090501_Souter.pdf| last = Souter| first = David H.| access-date = May 20, 2010| archive-date = May 21, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090521064919/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20090501_Souter.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Later that day Obama made an unscheduled appearance during the daily White House press briefing to announce Souter's retirement.<ref name=nyt_20090501>[http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/obama-announces-souters-retirement/ Obama Announces Souter Retirement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504171832/http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/obama-announces-souters-retirement/ |date=May 4, 2009 }}, ''The New York Times'', Caucus Blog, May 1, 2009</ref> On May 26, 2009, Obama announced his nomination of federal appeals court judge [[Sonia Sotomayor]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Sonia Sotomayor: Obama's Supreme Court Replacement for Ginsburg? |url=http://www.esquire.com/features/75-most-influential/obama-supreme-court-pick-1008 |work=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |date=February 6, 2009 |access-date=May 1, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415235838/http://www.esquire.com/features/75-most-influential/obama-supreme-court-pick-1008 |archive-date=April 15, 2009}}</ref> She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 6.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 105th Congress – 2nd Session |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=105&session=2&vote=00295 |publisher=[[United States Senate]] |access-date=February 16, 2018 |archive-date=December 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210060851/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=105&session=2&vote=00295 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On June 29, 2009, the last day of the Court's 2008–2009 term, Chief Justice Roberts read a letter to Souter that had been signed by all eight of his colleagues as well as retired Justice [[Sandra Day O'Connor]], thanking him for his service, and Souter read a letter to his colleagues reciprocating their good wishes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Kate |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/souter-and-justices-exchange-farewells/ |title=Souter and Justices Exchange Farewells |work=The New York Times |date=June 29, 2009 |access-date=July 9, 2009 |archive-date=July 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703072317/http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/souter-and-justices-exchange-farewells/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Souter's papers have been donated to the [[New Hampshire Historical Society]] and will not be made public until at least 50 years after his death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gresko |first=Jessica |date=May 11, 2022 |title=For Supreme Court justices, secrecy is part of the job |url=https://apnews.com/article/covid-us-supreme-court-health-87c198ea3de079eaf3121ffeb4985ba0 |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=[[Associated Press]] |language=en}}</ref>