Souter notifies White House of retirement plans

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Justice David Souter announced Friday that he will retire from the Supreme Court after informing the White House of his plans.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter is "a judge's judge," says a former Souter law clerk.

In a brief letter to President Obama, Souter said, "When the Supreme Court rises for the summer recess this year, I intend to retire from active service as a justice."

The current term is expected to end in June.

Obama -- breaking into the daily White House news briefing -- thanked Souter for his service and said he will choose as his replacement someone who understands "the realities" people go through every day and someone who understands "the rule of law."

The president said he also will seek someone with a "sharp, independent mind" who has integrity and strives for excellence. Watch as Obama pays tribute to Souter »

He described Souter as "not only a good judge but a good person," adding, "I'm incredibly grateful for his good service."

"I wish him safe travels on his journey home and on the road ahead," the president said.

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Filling Souter's seat would be Obama's first Supreme Court appointment -- and the first since President Bush picked Samuel Alito in 2006 and Chief Justice John Roberts in 2005.

Souter's departure will leave the two oldest justices -- and the most liberal -- still on the bench. Retirements for John Paul Stevens, 89, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76, have been rumored for years, with many expecting that one or the other would be the first to give the new Democratic president a Supreme Court vacancy.

Souter was seen at the opera recently with Ginsburg. Sources said he quietly reached out to her around that time, gauging whether her pancreatic cancer would precipitate her leaving the bench this year.

The sources said that Ginsburg assured him she was not leaving, but still Souter gave no direct indication at the time to her or other colleagues that he was thinking of retiring.

Souter reportedly has long wanted to leave Washington for his home in rural New Hampshire, and friends said he has never felt a desire to spend the rest of his life on the bench despite having a lifetime appointment.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Souter for the high court in 1990. The justice disappointed many conservatives when he turned out to be a typical old-fashioned, Yankee Republican, a moderate with an independent, even quirky streak.

David Hackett Souter had been on the federal appeals court bench for a few months when he was tapped to replace liberal lion William Brennan, a choice many Republicans hoped would move the Supreme Court rightward and reshape American law.

Souter has had a long career in public service. He was New Hampshire's attorney general and a trial judge who later sat on that state's Supreme Court.

Senate confirmation hearings to the U.S. high court were a breeze, because his federal experience was brief and his public stance on hot-button issues such as abortion remained fuzzy.

"I have not got any agenda on what should be done with Roe v. Wade if that case were brought before me," he told senators at the time. "I will listen to both sides of that case. I have not made up my mind."

One of the first surprises for conservatives came in 1992 when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the fundamental right to abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Souter was part of a three-justice coalition that ultimately decided the case. In doing so, the "no undue burden" legal test was established when states were considering limiting a woman's access to abortion.

Souter's personality has made him stand out on the Supreme Court despite efforts to avoid the spotlight. A lifelong bachelor, he has lived alone in a tiny Washington apartment, escaping often to his family farm in New Hampshire.

He has kept comfortably to routine, bringing a daily lunch of an apple and yogurt in a plastic grocery bag, eating alone in his chambers. Friends have said his favorite pastimes are reading, jogging and hiking in the New Hampshire mountains, activities he almost always does by himself.

Colleagues dismiss reports Souter was ready to quit the court after the 2000 Florida ballot disputes handed the presidency to George W. Bush. But they privately confirmed what a personal blow the rulings had on the integrity of the court he loved.

"He was very aggrieved by December 12, 2000," said Ralph Neas, former director of the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way. "He believed it was the ultimate politicization of the Supreme Court."

To critics, Souter siding with the liberal bloc only reaffirmed their view of him as a disappointment.

"He has not made a name for himself in any large body of jurisprudence," said Douglas Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine University who worked on high court nominations in the Reagan and Bush administrations. "He's been kind of a go-along guy in the context of the liberal or progressive side of the court. I think George Bush wanted more out of his judicial nominee than that, but that's what he got."

But others think history will judge Souter in kinder terms.

"[He's] a judge's judge," said Rebecca Tushnet, a former Souter law clerk and professor at Georgetown Law Center, "someone with deep respect of the institution and a deep faith in the ability of Americans in all branches to work things out."