Earlier Appearance Failed to Leave Lasting Impression

The last time David H. Souter appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was praised highly by New Hampshire’s two senators and questioned briefly by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Then he was approved unanimously as a federal judge on the U.S. lst Circuit Court of Appeals. Almost no one else remembers the episode last April.

The only known account of the confirmation hearing appeared in the Manchester, N.H., Union Leader. The article said that Kennedy questioned Souter about two rulings he had made while serving on the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

“One concerned a case that raised the issue of whether a defendant had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a police interrogation,” according to the account. “That ruling was overturned by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Another case dealt with the admission of certain evidence in a rape case, despite New Hampshire’s rape shield law, which is intended to protect women who claim to have been raped from having to rebut charges about sexual conduct with men other than the alleged rapist. Asked after the hearing why he thought Kennedy had asked him questions about those two cases, Souter said he wouldn’t presume to speculate about the matter. But Sen. (Warren G.) Rudman (R-N.H.) offered to answer on Souter’s behalf, saying the two cases had raised interesting legal issues that Kennedy wanted to address.”

After Souter’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was announced Monday, Senate Judiciary Committee member Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he had to pull out the panel’s questionnaire to refresh his memory on Souter.

“He was not one of those nominees who leapt to mind.”

Similarly, committee member Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) said that he vaguely recalled only Souter’s name because “I have someone in my office with that name.”