Editor’s note: Prior to joining The Thomson Corporation in 1994, Denis Hauptly served in a variety of positions in the Federal Courts and the United States Department of Justice including Special Master for the United States Court of Federal Claims and Director of Judicial Education for the Federal Courts.
(Photo courtesy: U.S. Supreme Court)
Sometime in the next few days, David Souter will arrive at his home in New Hampshire. He will be 70 years old, a wealthy bachelor, and a veteran of 20 years on the Supreme Court of the United States. What’s next for him?
The answer is that it is pretty much up to him. He will have an office in the Cleveland Building in Concord, New Hampshire with the other federal judges in New Hampshire. He will also have an office at the Supreme Court if he wants one. Or he can use one of the retired Justice chambers in the Thurgood Marshall Building a few blocks from the Supreme Court if he chooses.
He will draw a salary of about $200,000 a year for the rest of his life since he remains a federal judge and his salary cannot be changed under the Constitution. He will have an administrative assistant and a couple of law clerks and the right to sit as a federal judge in any court that invites him. All of the courts of appeals will immediately issue invitations.
But he is likely to spend most of his judicial time with the First Circuit in Boston, the court he briefly belonged to before being nominated to the Supreme Court. He has made very clear that New England is his love and the trip from Concord to Boston is a short one.
Some retired justices have also done commission work. Justice Powell chaired a commission on habeas corpus and Justice O’Connor is an evangelist for civics education.
But these roles do not seem to be an easy fit for the shy man from New Hampshire, he seems more likely to sit with the First Circuit a couple of times a year and one or two of the other circuits once a year.
Whatever route he chooses, the White Mountains will be close and the endless pressures of the Supreme Court will be a long distance away.
Denis Hauptly
Vice President, Strategy Development
Thomson Reuters, Legal
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