“He was a brilliant student, but he didn’t have to study very hard because he didn’t have to,” Martin says, adding that Souter’s effortless mastering of legal concepts was sometimes frustrating. “He was detached from the law school rat race to a certain degree because he never intended to go practice in New York.”

Martin adds that Souter always intended to return to New Hampshire, an ambition Souter indeed realized. After moving back to Concord, he worked as the state’s Assistant Attorney General and then as the Deputy Attorney General.

Souter was appointed to the bench for the first time in 1978, on the Superior Court of New Hampshire. In 1983, he was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and in 1990, Bush appointed Souter to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Souter was nominated to the Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and was confirmed by a Senate vote of 90-9.

Though many assumed Souter would vie for traditional conservative values as a justice, Souter reaffirmed Roe v. Wade and voted against school prayer. At the time of his retirement in 2009, Souter was considered one of the more liberal justices on the court.

THE SAME SOUTER

Despite his appointment to ever-higher positions on the judicial bench, Souter remained a modest and friendly neighbor.

Philip R. Boulter attended Concord High a year below Souter, and maintained a professional relationship with Souter when the two lived in the Concord area. He said that, despite Souter’s status, the judge remained friendly when the two ran into one another while grocery shopping. Boulter added that Souter loved to hike, often in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

“David is very quiet [and] incredibly bright,” Boulter says. “He’s a personal person who was warm and friendly towards everybody.”

Lurie reconnected with Souter when Souter was on the Supreme Court, sometimes bringing his students to Washington, D.C. where Souter would introduce them to the Court.

After ascending from Straus A-11 to the nation’s highest court, Souter—who Lurie remembered as friendly, private, and smart as a whip—is the same man.

“The one thing I remember about him is that he never changed,” Lurie says.

—Staff writer Caroline M. McKay can be reached at carolinemckay@college.harvard.edu.