David Souter

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A Biographical Sketch of Supreme Court Justice, David Souter.

David Hackett Souter was born on September 17, 1939 in Melrose, Ma. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1961. He then furthered his studies in jurisprudence at Oxford University where he gained his masters degree. In 1968 Souter accepted the position of assistant attorney general of the state of New Hampshire. Souter was asked by Warren B. Rudman to be his deputy. After Rudman resigned in 197 6 Souter was appointed his position. Souter was later appointed associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court in 1978, and was later appointed in 1983 to the N.H. Supreme Court by Governor John Sununu. President Bush then nominated Souter in 1990 to the U.S. Court of Appeals and after a few months he was nominated to the Supreme Court following Justice Brennan's retirement. David Souter's basic philosophies tend to be more moderate, even to the point of even being called liberal.

One of his decisions in 1992 concerned Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, in which Souter let several regulations of abortion stand, although he did not go so far as to turn over Roe v. Wade. His basic Philosophy as written in his college thesis according to Time Magazine was, "[I] believe that a judge should not be influenced by either politics or ideology." N.B.-Souter was a surprise nomination to Washington; his views on affirmative action and abortion were not known until he became a justice; also prohibited prayer in Lee v.Weisman.