Editing David Souter (section)

=== Judicial philosophy ===
At the time of Souter's appointment, John Sununu assured President Bush and conservatives that Souter would be a "home run" for conservatism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/24/us/conservative-says-sununu-assured-him-on-souter.html|title=Conservative Says Sununu Assured Him on Souter|last1=Shenon|first1=Philip|date=August 24, 1990|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023454/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/24/us/conservative-says-sununu-assured-him-on-souter.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In his testimony before the Senate, Souter was thought by conservatives to be a [[strict constructionism|strict constructionist]] on constitutional matters, but he portrayed himself as an [[Incrementalism|incrementalist]] who disliked drastic change and attached a high importance to precedent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER/pdf/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER.pdf|title=Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate on the Nomination of David H. Souter to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|date=September 19, 1990|website=govinfo.gov|access-date=October 17, 2019|archive-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115202452/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER/pdf/GPO-CHRG-SOUTER.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Roosevelt, Kermit.
[http://www.slate.com/id/2217434/pagenum/all/ Justice CincinnatusDavid Souter—a dying breed, the Yankee Republican] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124054617/http://www.slate.com/id/2217434/pagenum/all |date=January 24, 2010 }}, Slate, May 1, 2009.</ref> In the state attorney general's office and as a state Supreme Court judge, he had never been tested on matters of federal law.<ref name="abc news" />

After the appointment of Clarence Thomas, Souter moved toward the ideological middle.<ref name="nytimes" /> In the 1992 case ''[[Lee v. Weisman]]'', Souter voted with the liberal wing and against allowing prayer at a high school graduation ceremony.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perrin|first=Marilyn|date=1994|title=Lee v. Weisman: Unanswered Prayers|url=http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1573&context=plr|journal=Pepperdine Law Review|volume=21|pages=250|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151021/https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1573&context=plr|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1992 case ''[[Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]'', Souter voted with the left of center wing in a majority decision in which the Court reaffirmed the essential holding in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' but narrowed its scope. Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]] had considered overturning ''Roe'' and upholding all the restrictions at issue in ''Casey.'' Souter considered upholding all the restrictions but was uneasy about overturning ''Roe''. After consulting with O'Connor, the three (who came to be known as "the troika") developed a joint opinion that upheld all the restrictions in ''Casey'' except the mandatory notification of a husband while asserting the essential holding of ''Roe'', that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Whitman|first=Christina|date=June 2002|title=Looking Back on Planned Parenthood v. Casey|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=articles|journal=Michigan Law Review|volume=100|issue=7|pages=1982|doi=10.2307/1556082|jstor=1556082|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=September 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921233900/http://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=articles|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the late 1990s, Souter began to align himself more with [[Stephen Breyer]] and [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]], although as of 1995, he sided on more occasions with the more liberal<ref>Rosen, Jeffrey [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/magazine/23stevens-t.html The Dissenter: Majority of One, Stevens at the Supreme Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124133243/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/magazine/23stevens-t.html |date=November 24, 2020 }}, ''The New York Times'', September 23, 2007</ref> justice [[John Paul Stevens]] than with either Breyer or Ginsburg, both Clinton appointees.<ref name="national review">Ponnuru, Ramesh [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v47/ai_17374429 Empty Souter-Supreme Court Justice David Souter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917161658/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n17_v47/ai_17374429 |date=September 17, 2008 }}, ''National Review'', September 11, 1995 <!-- accessdate 2008-06-27 --></ref> On death penalty cases, [[Labor rights|workers' rights]] cases, [[Criminal procedure#Basic rights|defendants' rights]] cases, and other issues, Souter began increasingly voting with the Court's liberals,<ref>See [[Segal–Cover score]].</ref> and later came to be considered part of the Court's liberal wing. Because of this, many conservatives view Souter's appointment as an error of the Bush presidency.<ref>Greenfield, Jeff [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/david-souter-the-supreme-court-justice-who-built-the-trump-court-218953 David Souter: The Justice Who Built The Trump Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710164046/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/david-souter-the-supreme-court-justice-who-built-the-trump-court-218953 |date=July 10, 2018 }} ''Politico Magazine'', July 9, 2018</ref> For example, after widespread speculation that President George W. Bush intended to appoint [[Alberto Gonzales]]—whose perceived views on affirmative action and abortion drew criticism—to the Court, some conservative Senate staffers popularized the slogan "Gonzales is Spanish for Souter".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQxqXLSy9wcC&q=gonzales+is+spanish+for+souter&pg=PA246|title=Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court|last=Greenburg|first=Jan Crawford|date=2007|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781594201011|pages=246|language=en|access-date=November 10, 2020|archive-date=November 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108151022/https://books.google.com/books?id=SQxqXLSy9wcC&q=gonzales+is+spanish+for+souter&pg=PA246|url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, [[Ted Kennedy]], one of nine senators to have voted against Souter's confirmation, later expressed regret about his vote.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Ted Kennedy Discusses Current Congressional Issues|url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/en/date/2001-07-21/segment/00|date = July 21, 2001}}</ref>

A ''Wall Street Journal'' opinion piece ten years after Souter's nomination called Souter a "liberal jurist" and said that Rudman took "pride in recounting how he sold Mr. Souter to gullible White House Chief of Staff John Sununu as a confirmable conservative. Then they both sold the judge to President Bush, who wanted above all else to avoid a confirmation battle."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB951789438683921325|title=Chief Justice Souter?|date=February 29, 2000|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=October 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018023452/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB951789438683921325|url-status=live}}</ref> Rudman wrote in his memoir that he had "suspected all along" that Souter would not "overturn activist liberal precedents."<ref name="biography" /> Sununu later said that he had "a lot of disappointment" in Souter's positions on the Court and would have preferred him to be more like [[Antonin Scalia]].<ref name="biography" /> In contrast, President Bush said several years after Souter's appointment that he was proud of Souter's "outstanding" service and "outstanding intellect" and that Souter would "serve for years on the Court, and he will serve with honor always and with brilliance".<ref name=garrow>{{Cite news |last=Garrow |first=David J. |date=September 25, 1994 |title=Justice Souter Emerges |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/25/magazine/justice-souter-emerges.html |access-date=July 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>