Associate Justice David Hackett Souter plans to retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term, according to multiple news outlets this morning, including NPR’s long-time Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg, the New York Times and the Washington Post. With the High Court closely divided — especially on issues concerning campaign finance and the First Amendment rights to political speech and association — any change in the Supreme Court’s membership could alter the constitutional jurisprudence coming from One First Street.
Justice Souter has been generally deferential to government regulation of political speech and association concerning elections. For instance, Justice Souter was joined four other justices to uphold most of the provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (a.k.a. McCain-Feingold) that were challenged in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. More recently, Justice Souter has found himself in dissent when bare majorities of the Supreme Court struck down the federal Millionaire’s Amendment in Davis v. Federal Election Commission, and constitutionally protected issue advocacy from BCRA’s electioneering communications ban in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL II).
More later.
