#davidsouter — Public Fediverse posts

In one late June #HabeasCorpus ruling, …3 contentious #Scalia footnotes criticized Souter by name; 3 days later, in one of the term's leading cases, …Scalia in angry dissent dismissed #DavidSouter's majority opinion as "facile" & petulantly invoked Souter's name again & again in criticizing the outcome. Seemingly both provoked & bemused, Souter responded that "Justice Scalia's dissent is certainly the work of a gladiator, but he thrusts at lions of his own imagining."

#SCOTUS #law #judiciary

But in the following year, as Kennedy reverted to greater agreement w/the Chief Justice, #Souter found himself on the minority side of far more split decisions.

…The 1992-93 decline of the Souter-O'Connor-Kennedy trio led some observers to highlight how Kennedy had moved back rightward, but Paul Barrett of WSJ contended that actually the "most striking development" was Souter's "emerging #liberal streak."

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

…Casey was the most important case of the 1991-92 term, but there were other impressive Souter successes. He, Kennedy & O'Connor also came together, again joined by Blackmun & Stevens, in a crucial #EstablishmentClause case, Lee v. Weisman, where they struck down the recital of #religious prayers at #PublicSchool graduation ceremonies.

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #Constitution #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

Harry Blackmun's concurrence accurately termed the #Souter-O'Connor-Kennedy joint opinion "an act of personal courage & constitutional principle," & Blackmun added that "what has happened today should serve as a model for future Justices & a warning to all who have tried to turn this Court into yet another #political branch."

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

#Souter closed by reiterating that #Casey, & #Roe, were about far more than simply #abortion:
“A decision to overrule Roe's essential holding under the existing circumstances would address error, if error there was,at the cost of both profound & unnecessary damage to the Court's #legitimacy, & to the Nation's commitment to the rule of #law. It is therefore imperative to adhere to the essence of Roe's original decision, & we do so today."
#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #Independence #ethics

“But when the Court does act in this way, its decision requires an equally rare precedential force to counter the inevitable efforts to overturn it & to thwart its implementation. Some of those efforts may be mere #unprincipled emotional reactions; others may proceed from principles worthy of profound respect.

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

“It is the dimension present whenever the Court's interpretation of the #Constitution calls the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division by accepting a common mandate rooted in the Constitution.

"The Court is not asked to do this very often, having thus addressed the Nation only twice in our lifetime, in the decisions of #Brown & #Roe.

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

Then #Souter moved to the core of his argument, 2 paragraphs that rank among the most memorable lines ever authored by an American #jurist:

"Where, in the performance of its judicial duties, the Court decides a case in such a way as to resolve the sort of intensely divisive controversy reflected in #Roe & those rare, comparable cases, its decision has a dimension that the resolution of the normal case does not carry.

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

"For two decades of economic & social developments, people have organized intimate relationships & made choices that define their views of themselves & their places in society, in reliance on the availability of #abortion in the event that contraception should fail. The ability of #women to participate #equally in the economic & social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their #reproductive lives,” #DavidSouter wrote.

#SCOTUS #law #judiciary #Independence #ethics

That background had not been fully understood by the commentators & Senators who had debated what his 1990 nomination meant for the future of #Roe & other fundamental rights. If they had, what was now happening in Casey would not have come as a surprise.

#Souter's analysis reflected a realism not always found in high court pronouncements:

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

"The essential holding of #RoeVWade should be retained & once again affirmed," they wrote in language that also spoke for Blackmun & Stevens.

"Roe's essential holding, the holding we reaffirm, has 3 parts. First is a recognition of the right of the #woman to choose to have an #abortion before viability & to obtain it without undue interference from the State.…

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #ethics

"Since this Court's decision in #RoeVWade, a generation of American #women have come of age secure in the knowledge that the #Constitution provides the highest level of protection for their childbearing decisions.

"This landmark decision, which necessarily & logically flows from a century of this Court's #jurisprudence, not only protects rights of bodily #integrity & #autonomy but has enabled millions of women to participate fully & #equally in society."

#DavidSouter #SCOTUS #law #judiciary

Former #SCOTUS Justice #DavidSouter died on Thursday at his New Hampshire home, the court said in a statement on Friday. He was 85.

#law #judiciary #JudicialIndependence #nonpartisan
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-us-supreme-court-justice-souter-dies-court-says-2025-05-09/

🧵Excerpts from a beautiful piece written in the NYT by David J. Garrow in 1994 on Souter’s remarkable contribution in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in which the #SupremeCourt upheld the right to #abortion as established by #RoeVWade: