His chief of staff, John H. Sununu (father of the current New Hampshire senator) pushed hard for fellow New Hampshiran Souter. It’s all detailed in the excellent book, “Supreme Conflict” by Jan Crawford Greenburg. It was a major reason Bush lost his reelection bid IMO.
Let’s hope for another Souter.. Seriously, it would be about time a democrat turns when he gets nominated. Sort of like Justice White?