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| Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter in 2003. Appointed in 1990, he had become known by the end of his second year on the Court for having surprised the president who appointed him, George H.W. Bush, and left conservative Republicans disappointed. |
By Linda Greenhouse David H. Souter, a Republican-appointed Supreme Court justice whose unexpected ideological shift transformed him into a crucial ally of the Court’s liberal wing, died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire. He was 85.The Supreme Court announced his death Friday morning, noting that he passed away peacefully. No cause was disclosed.Appointed in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, Souter was expected to be a reliable conservative voice. Instead, he emerged as a consistent counterweight to the Court’s rightward drift, leaving many conservatives disillusioned. His ideological journey sparked a political catchphrase among Republican circles: “no more Souters.” Souter was a deeply private man—unmarried, reclusive, and more at ease with a book than with Washington’s social scene. He retired in 2009 at the age of 69, choosing to return to his quiet life in New Hampshire rather than remain in the political swirl of the capital. His retirement opened a seat for President Barack Obama, who appointed Sonia Sotomayor as his successor. By the end of his second year on the bench, Souter had already defied expectations. Many who were shocked by his jurisprudence overlooked—or misread—his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony in 1990. In that appearance, Souter identified himself as a conservative in the mold of Justice John Marshall Harlan II, a Republican appointee who often dissented during the Warren Court era but held a view of the Constitution as a living document committed to “ordered liberty.” That interpretive philosophy, once seen as moderate or even mainstream, gradually became branded as liberal as the nation’s judicial politics became more polarized through the 1990s and beyond. Souter’s views came into clearer focus during his confirmation, especially in an exchange with Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who questioned him about “judicial activism” and “government by the judiciary”—phrases often used to screen for conservative orthodoxy. Souter’s nuanced answers signaled his openness to constitutional evolution, a stance that would later place him squarely in the Court’s liberal minority. His legacy remains one of quiet defiance—an illustration of how a justice, once seated, can chart a path independent of the politics that brought him there. |