A former member of the United States Supreme Court passed away Thursday night, according to a statement by the high court.
David Souter, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush and spent 20 years on the bench before retiring in 2009, died “peacefully” at his New Hampshire home, the court said in a statement. He was 85.
For two decades, Souter surprised legal observers and disappointed the conservatives who had hoped his selection would push the high court further to the right on key social issues such as abortion and immigration. Instead, the New Hampshire native aligned himself with the Supreme Court’s most liberal justices, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and John Paul Stevens.
A vocal proponent of civic education, Souter in retirement warned about the perils of a populace ignorant about the inner workings of government.
“What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough … some one person will come forward and say, ‘Give me total power and I will solve this problem.’ That is how the Roman republic fell,” Souter said in a 2012 interview.
Shy and