Free Republic

Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a darling of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, has died. He was 85. Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the Supreme Court said in a statement Friday. He retired from the court in June 2009, giving President Barack Obama his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill. Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice. Souter was appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was a reliably liberal vote on abortion, church-state relations, freedom...

If the justice is so fond of eminent domain, say protesters, let's seize his ancestral property and develop a charming bed and breakfast on it.Weare, New HampshireLOGAN DARROW CLEMENTS doesn't seem like the sort of fellow who'd go around stealing the houses of Supreme Court justices. He's mild mannered and laughs easily, often at his own jokes. Physically he resembles a less creepy Ralph Reed: He looks like a 36-year-old altar boy whose mom made him scrub up and dress for dinner. An Ayn Rand devotee, he heads an objectivist discussion group back home in Los Angeles. A zippy evening...

I would like to respond to Jim Thompson ("Weare must not look to punish Souter,"Monitor, Jan. 11) and clarify a few things for Weare voters. It is not only my assumption that most people in Weare oppose the abuse of eminent domain for economic development but also a fact: UNH conducted a poll, and over 90 percent are against it. I don't think readers of this paper need a civics lesson on how a bill becomes law or on the role of the courts. The ones requiring lessons are the politicians and judges. They seem to have forgotten who is...