Justice Souter "sort of got the joke about being a Supreme Court Justice."

Says Jeffrey Toobin.

He didn't have an answering machine on his phone. He was late for William Rehnquist's funeral because they couldn't leave a message and find out where he was. He doesn't like electric lights to read. He moves his chair around his office over the course of the day for the sunlight. But the great thing about Justice Souter is that he sort of got the joke about being a Supreme Court Justice and he understood that he was important but it wasn't all about him.

Which might explain his graceful retirement. I sometimes wonder about those Justices who hang on for decades and into extreme old age. Why don't they think there should be more rotation of new individuals into those chambers?

Toobin's new book is "The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court." It's full of interesting material.  I'm enjoying it.