Late Justice Souter’s warning about how democracies die
May 9, 2025
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1:25Now PlayingLate Justice Souter’s warning about how democracies die
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as posted by the channelFormer Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who was appointed by then-President George H.W. Bush and served nearly two decades, has died at the age of 85. Though he was Republican when he joined the high court, he voted with the liberal bloc on issues like abortion and freedom of expression.
In a 2012 conversation on the anniversary of the Constitution, the retired justice said that civic ignorance threatens republican government, rather than foreign invasion or a military coup.
“What I worry about is, when problems are not addressed and the people do not know who is responsible … some one person will come forward and say, ‘Give me total power and I will solve this problem,’” he told then-PBS News Hour correspondent Margaret Warner during an event in Concord, New Hampshire. “That is how the Roman Republic fell.”
“That is the way democracy dies,” he added.
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