Hopefully even the liberalbloc will see the risks of moving in this area and leave that which should be left to individual choice to legislative deliberation.
Factors in his decision no doubt include the election of President Obama, who would be more likely to appoint a successor attuned to the principles Souter has followed as a moderate-to-liberal member of the court's more liberalbloc over the past two decades.
The EU, a club of Western liberal democracies, has struggled recently to keep some of the bloc's newer members on what it considers the proper legal path.
African-Americans make up the most loyal voting bloc for the Democrats, although there are signs that the socially liberal agenda is alienating some black voters.