Souter Won’t Be Queried in Case

Members of a state legislative committee investigating alleged ethics violations by the state Supreme Court say they aren’t likely to question the court’s best-known former member, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.

Deposition transcripts released Friday suggest Souter, who was on the state Supreme Court in the 1980s, played a significant role in a 13-year-old legal case at the heart of an impeachment inquiry involving the state’s highest court.

Souter wrote the decision in the 1987 case and later insisted on an investigation into allegations that Chief Justice David Brock and Superior Court Judge Douglas Gray acted improperly.

Brock was accused of calling Gray about a case involving the Senate majority leader at that time and reminding him that the politician could help win pay raises for the bench. Brock has denied making the call.

The majority leader later accused Gray of making improper remarks to lawyers in the case. Normally, it would have been investigated by the court’s Judicial Conduct Committee, but the statute of limitations expired. Instead, the court itself investigated.

The justices concluded that Gray made the comments, but they also determined he had reason to make them based on the call from Brock. They then dropped the matter, saying Gray did not feel pressured, and the evidence wouldn’t support a finding that Brock acted unethically.

New Hampshire’s House Judiciary Committee has interviewed all other judges who were on the court in 1987 but has decided against interviewing Souter.

Souter repeatedly has declined to comment on the investigation.

According to Richard Hesse, a professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center, there is no privilege or law that would prevent the committee from calling a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice to testify.

The committee begins two weeks of public testimony about the allegations on Tuesday and is expected to focus on the 1987 case.