Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican who became a liberal darling, has died

WASHINGTON AP Retired Supreme Court Justice David H Souter the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a darling of liberals during his nearly years on the bench has died He was Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire the court revealed in a report Friday He retired from the court in June giving President Barack Obama his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill Obama a Democrat chose Sonia Sotomayor the court s first Latina justice Souter was appointed by Republican President George H W Bush in He was a reliably liberal vote on abortion church-state relations freedom of expression and the accessibility of federal courts In retirement Souter warned that ignorance of how executive works could undermine American democracy What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed people will not know who is responsible And when the problems get bad enough particular one person will come forward and say Give me total power and I will solve this challenge That is how the Roman republic fell Souter reported in a interview His lifestyle was spare yogurt and an apple consumed at his desk was a typical lunch and he shunned Washington s social scene He couldn t wait to leave town in early summer As soon as the court finished its work in late June he climbed into his Volkswagen Jetta for the drive back to the worn farmhouse where his family moved when he was Yet for all his reserve Souter was beloved by colleagues court employees and friends He was a noted storyteller and generous with his time Justice David Souter served our Court with great distinction for nearly twenty years He brought uncommon wisdom and kindness to a lifetime of constituents facility Chief Justice John Roberts announced Souter continued hearing cases on the st U S Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a decade after he left the high court Roberts mentioned When Bush plucked Souter from obscurity in liberal interest groups feared he would be the vote that would undo the court s Roe v Wade ruling in favor of abortion rights He was called a stealth nominee by particular Bush White House aide John Sununu the former conservative governor of New Hampshire hailed his choice as a home run And early in his time in Washington Souter was called a moderate conservative But he soon joined in a ruling reaffirming woman s right to an abortion a decision from that is his the bulk noted work on the court Thirty years later a more conservative court overturned that decision and the constitutional right to abortion Souter solicited precise questions during argument sessions sometimes with a fierceness that belied his low-key manner He had an unerring knack of finding the weakest link in your argument veteran Supreme Court advocate Carter Phillips stated Souter was history s th Supreme Court justice and only its sixth bachelor Although hailed by The Washington Post as the capital city s largest part prominently eligible single man when he moved from New Hampshire Souter resolutely resisted the social whirl I wasn t that kind of person before I moved to Washington and at this age I don t see any reason to change the intensely private Souter stated an acquaintance He worked seven days a week through preponderance of the court s term from October to early summer staying at his Supreme Court office for more than hours a day He noted he underwent an annual intellectual lobotomy at the start of each term because he had so little time to read for pleasure Souter rented an apartment a inadequate miles from the court and jogged alone at Fort McNair an Army installation near his apartment building Souter returned to his well-worn house in Weare New Hampshire for a sparse months each summer and was given the use of an office in a Concord courthouse An avid hiker Souter spent much of his time away from work trekking through the New Hampshire mountains Shortly after his retirement Souter bought a -square-foot Cape Cod-style home in Hopkinton New Hampshire It was stated though perhaps it was just part of Souter s lore that he worried that the foundation of the house in Weare would give way under the weight of all the books he owned Souter had been a federal appellate judge for just over four months when picked for the high court He had heard but one occurrence as a federal judge and as a state judge previously had little chance to rule on constitutional issues Though liberals were initially wary of his appointment it was political conservatives who felt betrayed when in two rulings Souter helped forge a moderate-liberal coalition that reaffirmed the constitutional right of abortion and the court s longtime ban on officially sponsored prayers in society schools Yet as Souter biographer Tinsley Yarbrough noted the justice did not take extreme positions Indeed in June Souter sided with Exxon Mobil Corp and broke with his liberal colleagues in slashing the punitive damages the company owed Alaskan casualties of the Exxon Valdez oil spill Before serving as a New Hampshire judge Souter was his state s attorney general for two years He worked on the attorney general s staff the eight previous years after a brief stint in private practice Souter earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University and a master s degree from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar