Justice Souter Dies at 85: Know Details!

Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, courtesy of the Court, died Thursday at his New Hampshire home at age 85, the Court announced Friday. The voracious New Englander who made a lasting impression on America’s jurisprudence, spent some nearly two decades on country’s highest court.

Named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, Souter instead shocked the world by becoming a constant liberal voice on the bench. Although he is a Republican, he became a strong militiaman for abortion rights, separation of church and state and the freedom expression principles.

The former New Hampshire’s attorney general and Supreme Court Judge was characterized by a modesty lifestyle and an intellectual spirit of law. Unlike many his colleagues who adopted Washington’s social world, Souter chose the quiet of his rural New Hampshire home, heading back there shortly after retirement in 2009.

His leaving led to the first Supreme Court vacancy of President Barack Obama, who replaced Justice with Justice Sonia Sotomayor – a historic landmark as the first Latina ever to serve on the Court.

Souter’s legacy is a justice who valued a legal analysis over a partisan politics, often disappointing conservatives hoping he would move their agenda forward. His individual duty and principled jurisprudence made him respectable by all the political shades.