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Heads up, five people who regularly read my tweets: This morning I shall treat you to a slow-moving tweet storm. A veritable stationary front of bite-sized prose. 1/
Its occasion is twofold. First, a recognition of the 30th anniversary of President Bush’s nomination of David Souter to the Supreme Court. Second, a ham-handed (only kind I know) effort at self-promotion. 2/
“Self-promotion of what?” you ask. Of my latest. An essay providing both a brief biography of Souter (“This biographical sketch is the first to …,” I might say were I doing the thing that people insist on doing to get law reviews’ attention) AND … 3/
… considering his approach to life and his job in light of recent concerns about the celebrity culture that surrounds the Court and related work (esp. by Larry Baum & Neal Devins) about the audiences from which the justices seek approval. It’s here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3651361 4/
Souter, you may recall, was the “stealth nominee.” He had no paper trail. No speeches or significant publications. His experience was in New Hampshire as AG and on its supreme court, dealing with what a member of the Bush White House later derisively called “cow law.” 5/
Nominated after a whirlwind process that concluded a mere three days after Justice Brennan resigned, a stunned and tired Souter did not impress at the press conference where Bush announced the pick. TIME’s Margaret Carlson said he looked like “a dazed and gray-faced gnome.” 6/
Liberals were sure that Souter would be the fifth vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, and that he had made such a pledge to White House Chief of Staff (and former NH governor) John Sununu. Bush denied even asking a question about Roe: “I have too much respect for the Supreme Court.” 7/
The media rushed to New Hampshire in search of skeletons. It found neighbors and colleagues who vouched for Souter’s sterling character. It also found a man it couldn’t wrap its collective head around. 8/
Souter drove a modest car and lived alone in a near-ramshackle farmhouse crammed with books. Nina Totenberg reported that “he’s a very private person and my most modern standards, a peculiar person. He’s so solitary.” /9
Souter’s nomination happened the summer before I got to law school, and he was a hot topic. I started dating a classmate quite early in the semester, and I remember telling her that I sort of liked the guy, and that his life held a certain appeal to me. /10
How’d that work out? Well, she married me anyway.
I, obviously, still like the guy.
Joke’s on her, apparently. /11
I, obviously, still like the guy.
Joke’s on her, apparently. /11
Souter recovered from his early stumble, and his performance at his confirmation hearings was masterful. He provided articulate and candid answers to every question but one, no matter how it was asked: What are you going to do about Roe v. Wade? 12/
Souter claimed to have no agenda with respect to Roe. For him to say more, he asserted, would make it difficult for him to be impartial—“it is much easier to modify an opinion if one has not already stated it convincingly to someone else.” 13/
But Souter did praise the second Justice Harlan’s approach to substantive due process. He emphasized the importance of stare decisis, and of the paramount duty of the judge to remove one’s personal feelings from the process to the extent possible. 14/
