CONFIRMING A RUMOR FLOATED HERE EARLIER THIS WEEK (via Brian Hoffman):

Souter Still a Mystery After 14 Years (GINA HOLLAND, 5/05/04, Associated Press)

In the 14 years since [Supreme Court Justice David] Souter arrived in the capital with his belongings in a U-Haul truck, he has shunned all perks that come with being a justice. No hobnobbing at exclusive parties, writing books or teaching in exotic locations.

He splits his time between a farm house off a dirt road in a small New Hampshire town and a tiny apartment in Washington. He drives a compact car. He eats yogurt at his desk for lunch.

In a town where nearly everyone has something to say, Souter never gives interviews and rarely is photographed.

"In a perfect world, I would never give another speech, address, talk, lecture or whatever as long as I live," Souter said in a 1996 letter to Justice Harry Blackmun that was in the more than 1,500 boxes of papers unsealed in March on the fifth anniversary of Blackmun's death.

That same year, Souter told a congressional committee, "The day you see a camera come into our courtroom it's going to roll over my dead body."

At the court, he is known for working into the night, sometimes painstakingly slowly on often the court's most technical cases. [...]

[Emory University law professor David ] Garrow said that because Souter dislikes Washington, computers and attention, a retirement in the next year is possible even though the second-youngest justice is in good health. "This is not someone who is going to die in Washington, D.C.," Garrow said.

Met one of his former state court clerks last week and they were on their way to Washington to hear oral arguments in the Padilla case. Souter had made a standing invitation to come down and they wanted to take him up on it ASAP because "he keeps saying he's going to retire."

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 5, 2004 6:36 PM