PHILADELPHIA — In his first public appearance since announcing his retirement, Supreme Court Justice David Souter on Tuesday spoke philosophically about a judge’s place in society and how quickly one may fade into history. ‘For most of us, the very best work that we do sinks into the stream very quickly,’ he said in a 15-minute address to the Third Circuit Judicial Conference. ‘We have to find satisfaction in being part of the great stream.’ Souter, the justice who oversees emergency appeals from the circuit covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, noted that he has been coming to the circuit’s annual judicial conferences for almost two decades. ‘I didn’t intend for (Tuesday’s appearance) to be a sort of farewell conference,’ he said. And then referring to the fact that he believed his decision to retire this summer would have stayed under wraps longer, said to laughter, ‘I swear to you I was not the source of the leak.’ Souter, a 1990 appointee of President George H.W. Bush who had told friends he was intending to retire, made it official when that news became public Thursday night. Souter called President Obama midday Friday. Afterward, Obama said at […]