Justice Souter nearly quit over Bush vs. Gore ruling
September 9, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Justice David Souter contemplated resigning from the Supreme Court because he was so upset by the decision that sealed the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush, a new book says.
Souter, one of the four dissenting justices in the case, thought his five colleagues in the majority acted in a ''crudely partisan'' manner in siding with Bush to shut down the recount of votes in Florida in December 2000, author Jeffrey Toobin writes in The Nine, Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. A day after the decision in Bush vs. Gore, Vice President Al Gore formally conceded the election.
''Souter seriously considered resigning. For many months, it was not at all clear whether he would remain as a justice,'' Toobin writes. ''At the urging of a handful of close friends, he decided to stay on, but his attitude toward the court was never the same. There were times when David Souter thought of Bush vs. Gore and wept.''
Souter, 67, was named to the court by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
Toobin does not say how he learned Souter thought about retiring, although he says his sources include the justices themselves.
One of Souter's close friends, former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman, called Toobin's account ''absolutely false.''
Souter declined to comment.
The book will be out Sept. 18.
