A retired Republican US Supreme Court justice who became a liberal darling and cast a key vote to uphold abortion rights has died.
Justice David Souter died peacefully at his New Hampshire home on Thursday at the age of 85. His cause of death was not revealed by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Fellow Republican President George HW Bush appointed Souter to America’s highest court in 1990. He was nicknamed the ‘stealth candidate’ when he was nominated to replace William J Brennan Jr, who was seen as a leader of the dwindling liberal majority.
But Souter went on to shock conservatives by aligning with liberal justices in numerous cases.
In Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1992, Souter joined the majority on the bench in upholding the federal constitutional right to abortion that was first established by Roe v Wade. That right was undone three decades later with the conservative-majority court’s decision in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Souter wrote that reversing Roe v Wade would mean to ‘surrender to political pressure… So to overrule under fire in the absence of the most compelling reason to re-examine a watershed decision would subvert the court’s legitimacy beyond any serious question’.
He leaned liberal on cases around issues including gay rights, affirmative action, separation of church and state and restricting the death penalty.
In 2000, Souter even dissented with liberals in Bush v Gore, which stopped the presidential election vote recount in Florida and allowed Bush’s son, George W Bush, to win the race.
Souter retired in 2009 at the relatively young age of 69, after serving for more than 19 years. His departure allowed for then-President Barack Obama to appoint a liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, to replace him.
After stepping down, Souter continued to serve by regularly sitting for more than a decade on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday stated that Souter served ‘with great distinction’.
‘He brought uncommon wisdom and kindness to a lifetime of public service,’ said Roberts. ‘He will be greatly missed.’
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