Briefs

Former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter dies at 85

May 9, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

David Souter, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is shown, Dec. 1993. Photo: Marcy Nighswander/AP

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NEW HAMPSHIRE — FORMER U.S. SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE DAVID H. SOUTER DIED at age 85, the judicial body announced on Friday, May 9 to the New York Times. Souter, a native of New Hampshire, joined the Supreme Court in October 1990 during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. died Thursday at his home in Concord, where he resided following his 2009 retirement from the Supreme Court. He was known for holding to Constitutional jurisprudence, with some accusing him of shifting toward a liberal stance against the backdrop of American politics seeming to move in the opposite direction. In one of his most famous cases, he dissented from the decision in Bush v. Gore in 2000, during that year’s disputed Presidential election which effectively handed the presidency to George W. Bush, the son of the President who nominated him. Souter was among several Supreme Court Justices who shifted leftward or toward the center during their tenure; others include Justices Harry Blackmun and Sandra Day O’Connor.

Souter retired relatively young from the Supreme Court, at age 69. His 2009 retirement enabled President Barack Obama to nominate his successor, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

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