Six weeks after retiring from the US Supreme Court, Justice David Souter's new life is taking shape -- a New Hampshire life that will keep him away from Washington as much as humanly possible.

Unlike many retired justices who keep chambers at the Supreme Court or at the nearby Thurgood Marshall judicial building, Souter will not have an office in Washington, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirms. The law clerk and secretary to which he is entitled as a retired justice will operate out of the Court. But Souter himself is already using an office at the federal courthouse in Concord, N.H., where he's had summer chambers since he joined the Supreme Court in 1990. The difference now is that he won't be returning to Washington when the Court's recess is over.

"It's like any other summer, except longer," said James Starr, longtime clerk of the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire. "It's very nice to have him here."