Sherman Duesenbury Horton Jr. (February 19, 1931 – December 3, 2014) was a justice of the

New Hampshire Supreme Court The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the state supreme court, supreme court of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord, New Hampshire, Concord. The Court is ...

from 1990 to 2000. He was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, and attended

Kemper Military School Kemper Military School & College was a private military school located in Boonville, Missouri. Founded in 1844, Kemper filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2002. The school's motto was "Nunquam Non Paratus" (Never Not Prepared). The 46-acre camp ...

. He was a graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

and in 1958 graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. Between his time at Dartmouth and Harvard, he served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. He was a lawyer in Nashua before he was nominated to the state Supreme Court by governor

Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and a United States senator from New Hampshire from 1993 to 2011 where he was Chairman of the Heal ...

.Mike Recht,
Horton named for top court
, ''Concord Monitor'' (May 24, 1990), p. B-1, B-8. He replaced

David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...

, who became a justice on the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. Horton was the first person who was not previously a judge to be nominated to the court in five decades, the previous being chief justice Frank R. Kenison. He died at the Concord VNA Hospice House in 2014, at the age of 83.

References

1931 births 2014 deaths Kemper Military School alumni Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Navy personnel Justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court 20th-century New Hampshire state court judges {{NewHampshire-state-judge-stub