David H. Souter (born 1939), a New Hampshire state attorney and state supreme court judge, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in the fall of 1990 as the 105th justice in the nation's history.

David H. Souter was born on September 17, 1939, in Melrose, Massachusetts. At age 11, Souter and his parents moved to Weare, New Hampshire, near Concord, where his father, a banker, could lead a slower-paced life necessitated by a heart condition. Souter was a lifelong bachelor and lived with his widowed mother until she entered a nursing home several years before his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was still living in the family's farmhouse in Weare when President George Bush plucked him from obscurity to place him on the nation's highest court in 1990.

By educational background, Souter seemed a worthy candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court. He attended public elementary schools and Concord...