Lawyerly Lairs: Souter’s Upgrade
I guess Justice Souter no longer has to play the role of humble civil servant, and can now start living the life of a former uber-powerful person. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Souter is getting new digs:
When he retired from the Supreme Court in June, it was expected that Justice David H. Souter would return to his beloved family farmhouse in Weare, N.H., a rustic abode with peeling brown paint, rotting beams and plenty of the solitude he desired….On July 30, he bought a 3,448-square-foot Cape Cod-style home in neighboring Hopkinton listed at $549,000. The single-floor home, for which he paid a reported $510,000, sits on 2.36 well-manicured acres.
The ABA Journal notes that Souter needed more space for his books.
At least he’s staying in New Hampshire. But his neighbors in Weare are acting like Souter is leaving the neighborhood to move to Havana or something. More details, plus photos, after the jump.
The Concord Monitor reports that Souter’s move is straining a great bromance:
Jimmy Gilman described in one word how he felt when he learned this week that his longtime neighbor, retired Supreme Court justice David Souter, was moving away from Weare: devastated.“I took that as some of the worst news I’ve heard in a while,” said Gilman, who’s 56 and shared the same road with Souter, who’s 69, for as long as he could remember. “I think the world of the man, and I don’t care who knows it.”
Jimmy, you realize the guy is just moving to the neighboring town, right?
Meanwhile, Souter’s new neighbors seem excited, in a reserved, New England sort of way:
Mary French, who lives down the street in Hopkins Green, said while she may not have agreed with all of the nearly two decades of decisions Souter made on the High Court, she was happy to learn he’d be coming to the neighborhood.French said she thinks people will respect that because Souter has been in the public eye for so many years, he may be ready for some privacy.
“I think he’ll like it here. We’ve found it very welcoming,” French said, who’s lived there for nearly 40 years. “He seems to have played the role of being a somewhat private person… . Hopkins Green is a very pretty, very quiet place.”
Pretty, private, quiet — do they serve Soma with that? It sounds like Souter is moving into an upscale nursing home.
Oh well, to each his own. But I hope that when Scalia retires he builds a villa in Miami and does freelance work as a boat captain with T-Pain. It’ll just be more interesting.
Off the Bench, Souter Leaves Farmhouse Behind [New York Times]
Souter moving to Hopkinton [Concord Monitor]
Souter Buys Home in Swanky Area, Says Farmhouse Won’t Hold All His Books [ABA Journal]
(38) Comments
Comments
First
"the to the neighboring town"?
huh?
Live Free Or Die!!!
Fire the to the Mystal!
Granite Staters are lunatics.
Gosh, what a great story
He's in the middle of WASP country.
My wife is bigger than that house.
Suck on my Texas prestige, bitches.
Haha Souter you liberal fuck, my wife is 3500 sq. ft.
Good riddance, bone smuggler. Sununu Sr. should have been shot for putting this loser on the high court.
Looks like Souter is content on living in the middle of No-Weare.
Ok, this article sucked until the Scalia line.
It'll Souter him well.
Equating a quiet, aestheticaly pleasing place with a nursing home? You really ought to get out of the city more often.
Sounds horrible
Does this town have a Whole Foods? If it does, it's legit. If not, yikes.
I have a massive dump percolating
Souter is basically the Unabomber w/o the expertise with explosives. I wonder if this new house has electricity.
In 2002, I graduated second to last (401/403) from UC Hastings.
16 -- Whole Foods is for pussies.
Souter is so TTT
20,
I know, I walk around with one attached to me every day.
I wish Elie would move to somewhere in NH without an internet connection. Her writing just sucks.
When did a $500k home become something upscale or especially nice? $500k is just entering the good realty market.
"it was expected that Justice David H. Souter would return to his beloved family farmhouse"
Many things were expected from Souter. The only thing we can truly expect from the man is the unexpected.
25 - if we expect the unexpected, is it really unexpected?
all you idiots couldnt hack it in the granite state.
27 speaks the truth
live free or die
22 -- Attached? Is it some sort of prosthetic?
Why don't your sites update correctly? Breaking Media's technology is subpar.
19 - In 2002, I graduated last (403/403) from UC Hastings. We should talk.
Oh no, not Souter!
This is amusing because the Boston Globe did a puff piece on Souter not more than 6 weeks ago about how he was going back to his dilapidated shack in NH, and what a salt of the earth, unpretentious guy he was etc etc......
in the tradition of graceland and neverland, souter's place should be called weirdoland.
Aww...the days of 3500 sq. ft wives are back again.
The economy must be a-boomin'...
You have a 3500 sq ft wife?
Thats a big bitch.
24 - location, location, location. While $500k wouldn't buy a quarter-acre of land sans house in the nicer suburbs of Boston, NYC, SF, or wherever, it buys a lot in more distant regions. When you are more than, say, ten or fifteen miles north of the Massachusetts line in New Hampshire, $500k buys you a pretty nice spread (unless you are looking in the resort towns or the Hanover [Dartmouth] area).
Nice pile o' bricks, Mr. Justice Souter!