David Souter's farewell: 'My love'

by Mark Silva

The retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, choking up today on the subject of his departure this summer, recalled the words of his retiring predecessor, Justice William Brennan, when Souter asked if he might relay a message to the judges and lawyers whom Souter was addressing today.

"'Just give them my love, David. Just give them my love,'" Souter remembered Brennan saying, adding: "That goes for me, too."

Souter was addressing an annual conference of judges and lawyers from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in Philadelphia -- the justice handles matters that come to the Supreme Court from those states. He had first addressed them in Teaneck. N.J., nearly 20 years before.

His 15-minute talk, closed to cameras and recorders, ended with a standing ovation.

Souter said he had not intended for the news of his retirement to break before today's event. "I swear to you I was not the leak," he said. Still, he said, "It's impossible not to be doing a mental reckoning of some sort."

He was introduced by Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a "beloved member of the 3rd Circuit family."

Souter gave a lighthearted account of his first conference after joining the court in 1990, noting that he apparently was viewed with some suspicion by the 3rd Circuit. Among the reading material he was given when he arrived at that first conference was a copy of the Constitution.

Souter thanked Scirica for not including the Constitution in this visit's greeting, adding: "He may have assumed that it's too late now.''

2008 file photo of Supreme Court Justice David Souter during a dedication ceremony at the State Supreme Courthouse in Concord, N.H., by Jim Cole / AP. The AP also contributed to this report.