David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court.

• Position: Book Review

David Hackett Souter By Tinsley Yarbrough

Tinsley Yarbrough's David Hackett Souter tells the gripping story of one of this century's preeminent legal minds. Yarbrough skillfully paints a picture of a man appointed to the Supreme Court by a president whom, in hind-sight, we would have least suspected, the first President Bush. Appointed in 1990, Justice Souter remains today "as enigmatic and unpredictable as ever, a mystery even to avid court watchers." Yet Yarbrough's description of his life and career reads like a first-hand account.

The book begins on September 11, 2001, with a personal vignette that serves to illuminate what the remainder of the book will eventually divulge--that is the unshakable character of the man this country knows as "Justice" Souter. Amid all the chaos on that day, David Souter managed to evade his security personnel to attend lunch at the Concord home of some good friends. "[W]hile much of the nation's officialdom attempted to cope with the 9/11 disaster, anxious about possible further attacks on national institutions and leaders, one member of one of the nation's most powerful bodies eluded the security efforts of his own court staff in order to enjoy a quiet meal with friends." Yarbrough captures this, and so many more intimate moments in the life of a stoic who has remained a secret even to the country he so steadfastly serves.

After discussing Souter's New England lineage and Harvard education, Yarbrough moves on to the dominant theme of the book: Sourer's never predictable but always remarkable legal career. From his ivory-tower education, he chose to launch a career in public...