Justice Souter Departs

The New York Times
Published: May 2, 2009

When President George H. W. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court in 1990, David Souter was an obscure New Hampshire judge with a thin paper trail, hard to figure out, and supporters of civil liberties, civil rights and abortion rights worried that he was being put on the court to do damage to their causes.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Judge Souter had failed to show “abiding commitment” to “core constitutional values.” He and other liberal senators voted against confirmation.
How wrong Senator Kennedy, and almost everyone else, was. Abiding commitment to core constitutional values is precisely what Justice Souter — who has decided to retire — has demonstrated in his 18 years on the court. To the relief of liberals and the dismay of conservatives — who have made “No More Souters!” a judicial-nomination rallying cry — Justice Souter turned out to be nothing like what anyone expected.
The first opinion he wrote overturned, for a unanimous court, the conviction of a black man for killing a white woman, because the defendant had not been given ample opportunity to challenge the makeup of the nearly all-white Georgia jury. Justice Souter went on to become a reliable champion of civil rights. In 2003, he provided a critical fifth vote upholding the University of Michigan’s affirmative action program.

Full Editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/opinion/03sun2.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1241496000&en=2337aeacc571b7da&ei=5087%0A