Supreme Court justices are famous but not well known. Their names are familiar but not their faces. For this reason, David Souter and Stephen Breyer were frequently mistaken for each other. Once during his tenure on the court, Souter was driving from Washington to his home in New Hampshire, and he stopped in a little restaurant to get something to eat. A couple came up to him, and the man asked him a question.<p>"You're on the Supreme Court, right?" Souter nodded. "You're Stephen Breyer, right?"<p>Souter didn't want to embarrass the fellow in front of his wife, so he said yes, he was Breyer. They chatted for a little while, and the fellow asked, "Justice Breyer, what's the best thing about being on the Supreme Court?"<p>After a pause, the justice answered, "I'd have to say it was the privilege of serving with David Souter."<p><a href="https://x.com/WakeUp2Politics/status/1920887550496927899" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/WakeUp2Politics/status/1920887550496927899</a>
I was active in history and civics events in high school and I remember going to DC for a civics competition, and Justice David Souter spoke at it.<p>I was a teenager at the time, it was the 90s, and I don't think I took much of anything too seriously, but I remember being kind of in awe of him. He talked about the importance of civic education which to this day that remains one of my core beliefs as an American.<p>A lot has changed for the worse since then, and it feels like we've only gotten further from the idea that the purpose of education is, more than anything else, to teach us to be better citizens and participants in our democracy.
I met him at the Court once during law school.<p>He came across as the most even-keeled person in the world.<p>I asked him how he thought he had changed, if at all, throughout his years on the Court. He said, "We never see ourselves as others see us." I'll never forget it.<p>He'll be missed; sorry to hear that his papers won't be released for 50 years.
Four justices are now older than Souter was when he retired at age 69. Thomas and Alito, 75, Sotomayor and Roberts, 70. Souter appeared to be in good health at retirement. I admire him for not clinging to power.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcVtWennr0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcVtWennr0</a><p>Here he is discussing the dangers of the erosion of civic knowledge.
I remember him being derided as "the stealth nominee" because he didn't have much of a paper trail that could be used against him in confirmation hearings. (This was of course before confirmation hearings became rubber-stamps when the President's party held the Senate.)
Maybe the first Supreme Court justice I knew by name as a child:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpUyxovK7k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekpUyxovK7k</a>
Radiolab made a podcast on him, detailing about how he rose above partisanship. We need more people like him in the courts.<p>Episode link: <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolabmoreperfect/episodes/no-more-souters" rel="nofollow">https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolabmoreperfect/epi...</a>
He lived in New Hampshire and after the Kelo decision which allowed eminent domain on a property, which he was a deciding vote on, some local NH politicians tried to use Kelo to seize his property, which caused a kerfluffle in the Libertarian side; if it happened today I would guess it would go farther, given wider divisions in politics.