David Souter

David Souter

David Hackett Souter ( /ˈsuːtər/; born September 17, 1939) is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J. Brennan, Jr., Souter was the only Justice during his time on the Court with extensive prior court experience outside of a federal appeals court, having served as a prosecutor, a state attorney general, and a judge on state trial and appellate courts. Souter sat on both the Rehnquist and Roberts courts, and came to vote reliably with the court's liberal members. Following Souter's retirement announcement in 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as his successor.