Editing David Souter (section)

== U.S. Supreme Court appointment ==
[[File:David Souter at one of his confirmation hearings.jpg|thumb|left|Souter testifying during one of his confirmation hearings]]President George H. W. Bush initially considered nominating [[Clarence Thomas]] to Brennan's seat, but he and his advisers decided that Thomas did not yet have enough experience as a judge.<ref name="abc news">Greenberg, Jan Crawford [https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3664944&page=1 Clarence Thomas: A Silent Justice Speaks Out] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919015232/http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3664944&page=1 |date=September 19, 2008 }}, [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], September 30, 2007<!-- accessed 2008-10-18 --></ref> [[Warren Rudman]], who had since been elected to the U.S. Senate, and former [[Governor of New Hampshire]] [[John H. Sununu]], then Bush's chief of staff, suggested Souter, and were instrumental in his nomination and confirmation. Bush was reportedly "highly impressed by Souter's intellectual seriousness" and Souter's intellect, "particularly impressive in one-on-one meetings", was reported to have been a persuasive factor in his nomination.<ref name="garrow" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 25, 1990 |title=And Then There Were 2 and Finally 1--Souter : Court: Nominee selected over Texas woman primarily for his lack of 'paper trail' on controversial issues. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-25-mn-972-story.html |access-date=July 3, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> At the time, few observers outside New Hampshire knew who Souter was,<ref name="nytimes">Greenhouse, Linda [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/03/news/souter-anchoring-the-court-s-new-center.html Souter Anchoring the Court's New Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508115350/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/03/news/souter-anchoring-the-court-s-new-center.html |date=May 8, 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', July 3, 1992<!-- accessed 2008-06-27 --></ref> although he had reportedly been on Reagan's short list of nominees for the Supreme Court seat held by [[Lewis F. Powell Jr.]] that eventually went to [[Anthony Kennedy]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Greenhouse |first1=Linda |date=October 29, 1987 |title=A New Contender Is Seen for Court |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/29/us/a-new-contender-is-seen-for-court.html |access-date=July 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Souter was seen as a "stealth justice" whose professional record in the state courts provoked no real controversy and provided a minimal "paper trail"<ref>Rosen, Jeffrey [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/opinion/02rosen.html "Stealth Justice"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207152532/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/opinion/02rosen.html |date=December 7, 2016}}, ''The New York Times'', May 1, 2009<!-- retrieved May 10, 2009 --></ref> on issues of U.S. Constitutional law. Bush saw the lack of a paper trail as an asset, because the Senate had rejected one of [[Ronald Reagan|President Reagan]]'s nominees, [[Robert Bork]], partially because of his extensive written opinions on controversial issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://politi.co/2m3B3oX|title=The Justice Who Built the Trump Court|last=Greenfield|first=Jeff|website=POLITICO Magazine|date=July 9, 2018 |language=en|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151028/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/david-souter-the-supreme-court-justice-who-built-the-trump-court-218953/|url-status=live}}</ref> Bush nominated Souter on July 25, 1990, saying that he did not know Souter's stances on [[abortion]], [[affirmative action]], or other issues.<ref name="biography" /><ref name="about">[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/a/supreme_court_3.htm US Supreme Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051128170158/http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/a/supreme_court_3.htm |date=November 28, 2005 }}, about.com</ref>

Senate confirmation hearings began on September 13, 1990. The [[National Organization for Women]] opposed Souter's nomination and held a rally outside the Senate during the hearings.<ref name="biography" /> The president of NOW, [[Molly Yard]], testified that Souter would "end freedom for women in this country."<ref name="washpost">Kamen, Al [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801188.html For Liberals, Easy Does It With Roberts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130055328/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801188.html |date=November 30, 2016 }}, ''The Washington Post'', September 19, 2005 <!-- accessdate 2008-06-28 --></ref> Souter was also opposed by the [[NAACP]], which urged its 500,000 members to write letters to their senators asking them to oppose the nomination.<ref name="nytimes naacp">Molotsky, Irvin [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/22/us/naacp-urges-souter-s-defeat-citing-earlier-statements-on-race.html N.A.A.C.P. Urges Souter's Defeat, Citing Earlier Statements on Race] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205065151/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/22/us/naacp-urges-souter-s-defeat-citing-earlier-statements-on-race.html |date=February 5, 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', September 22, 1990 <!-- accessdate 2008-06-28 --></ref> In Souter's opening statement before the Judiciary Committee, he summed up the lessons he had learned as a judge of the New Hampshire courts:

{{blockquote|The first lesson, simple as it is, is that whatever court we are in, whatever we are doing, whether we are in a trial court or an appellate court, at the end of our task some human being is going to be affected. Some human life is going to be changed in some way by what we do, whether we do it as trial judges or whether we do it as appellate judges, as far removed from the trial arena as it is possible to be. And so we had better use every power of our minds and our hearts and our beings to get those rulings right.<ref>[http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh101-1263/49-52.pdf Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Senate Hearing 101–1263] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106221819/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh101-1263/49-52.pdf |date=January 6, 2010 }}, Hearings on the Nomination of David H. Souter, September 13, 1990.</ref>}}

Some have pointed to Souter's confirmation hearings as showing the first signs of the liberal bent of his legal principles. He surprised many conservatives when, prompted by Senator [[Chuck Grassley]] to describe his views on "judicial activism" and "government by the judiciary", he responded, "Courts must accept their own responsibility for making a just society."<ref name="NYTobit" /> He added that the court was obligated to respond to pressing social concerns that were addressed by the Constitution but which other branches of government had failed to take up.<ref name="NYTobit" />

Despite organized opposition by numerous civil society groups, Souter won confirmation easily, with all votes in opposition coming from Democrats.<ref name="NYTobit" /><ref name="presidential leadership">Taranto, James and Leo, Leonard [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZrl2NaIpGUC&pg=PA235 "Presidential Leadership"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407024748/http://books.google.com/books?id=oZrl2NaIpGUC&pg=PA235 |date=April 7, 2015 }}, Free Press, 2004</ref> His performance at the confirmation hearings ensured his approval by the Senate; [[Walter Dellinger]], a liberal Democrat and an adviser to the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], called Souter "the most intellectually impressive nominee I've ever seen".<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Greenhouse |first1=Linda |date=September 17, 1990 |title=The 'Not Bork' Test; Senators Know What Judge Souter Isn't, But a Question Remains: Is That Enough? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/17/us/not-bork-test-senators-know-what-judge-souter-isn-t-but-question-remains-that.html |access-date=July 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hensley |first1=Thomas R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGLZyxI_w9kC&dq=%22souter%27s+performance%22+senate+hearing&pg=PA82 |title=The Rehnquist Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy |last2=Hale |first2=Kathleen |last3=Snook |first3=Carl |page=82 |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-200-4 |language=en}}</ref> The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the nomination by a vote of 13–1, with [[Ted Kennedy]] the lone dissenter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Judiciary Committee Votes On Recent Supreme Court Nominees {{!}} United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/supreme-court/committee-votes |access-date=July 6, 2022 |website=www.judiciary.senate.gov |language=en}}</ref> The full Senate confirmed the nomination on October 2, 1990, by a vote of 90–9 ([[Pete Wilson]] of [[California]] was absent due to campaigning for the [[1990 California gubernatorial election|state's gubernatorial election]], which he won).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/101st-congress/1414|title=PN1414 - Nomination of David H. Souter for Supreme Court of the United States, 101st Congress (1989-1990)|date=October 2, 1990|website=www.congress.gov|access-date=June 27, 2017|archive-date=April 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407183814/https://www.congress.gov/nomination/101st-congress/1414|url-status=live}}</ref> Souter was [[Oath of office#Federal judiciary oaths|sworn into office]] seven days after his confirmation.<ref name="SCOTUSjustices" />

Nine senators voted against Souter: Kennedy and [[John Kerry]] of [[Massachusetts]]; [[Bill Bradley]] and [[Frank Lautenberg]] of [[New Jersey]]; [[Brock Adams]] of [[Washington (state)|Washington]]; [[Daniel Akaka]] of [[Hawaii]]; [[Quentin Burdick]] of [[North Dakota]]; [[Alan Cranston]] of [[California]]; and [[Barbara Mikulski]] of [[Maryland]]. They painted Souter as a right-winger in the mold of [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|Robert Bork]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emkinstitute.org/resources/warren-rudman-oral-history-senator-new-hampshire|title=Warren Rudman Oral History, Senator, New Hampshire|last1=Boston|first1=Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Columbia Point 210 Morrissey Blvd|last2=Ma 02125|website=Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate|language=en|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023502/https://www.emkinstitute.org/resources/warren-rudman-oral-history-senator-new-hampshire|url-status=live}}</ref>