If you’ve listened to conservatives complain about President Obama’s criteria for choosing Sonia Sotomayor, his Supreme Court nominee, you might have come to the conclusion that he’s picked someone who will willfully disregard the law and simply impose personal opinions in every case that comes before the court.
What did Obama say to cause such uproar on the right? He wants a justice who understands how the law actually affects people. Horror of horrors, he wants someone with empathy. Critics seem to have conflated empathy with sympathy. All empathy implies is that one has the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes. What I’ve yet to hear is an explanation of why understanding how the law plays out as a practical matter in everyday life for real human beings is a bad thing.
Perhaps the most troubling thing for Obama critics was his statement as a candidate in 2007 that he wanted a judge “to recognize what it's like to be a young, teenage mom; the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old.” That would be troubling if Justice Sotomayor were always to side with poor, black, or gay litigants, no matter the facts of the case. If such a thing happened, I would be at the Supreme Court door, protesting with Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. But no credible nominee who’s in the mainstream, even of liberal jurisprudence, would do that.
But putting all that aside, I think having Judges on the bench who understand what it’s like to be a minority could be a plus in some cases. For example, in a case involving sexual harassment in the workplace, the law might not specify what sorts of behavior constitute harassment. It would be nice in those cases to have a Judge who can clearly imagine what it’s like to be a woman in a workplace, and how the behavior in question in the case could affect a woman’s ability to do her job and enjoy treatment equal to that of her male colleagues, which is her right. In that case, I want a Judge who yes, has empathy.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Yet more yammering about how a jíbara was nominated to the supreme court of the United States. This is truly tiresome. The real threats, like the North Koreans, and the real lack of an intelligent American response, go unnoticed and unread here....
2 - Dave Nalle
We did have an article on the North Korean bomb. But really, Ruvy. It's not like North Korea behaving like lunatics is much of a surprise.
Dave
3 - El Bicho
"This is truly tiresome."
Actually what's truly tiresome is seeing someone complain about what volunteer writers decide to write about, especially when said commentor hasn't offered up his own piece on the subject. Either put up or shut up.
4 - Ruvy
Dave,
Obama picking a New York Rican (Jíbara really refers to someone from the mountains of Puerto Rico) as a supreme court nominee is no real surprise. Ahmadinejad threatening or acting as if he intends to destroy us in Israel is no surprise either. And the North Koreans flexing a nuclear muscle or smoking a nuclear cigar should not be a surprise at all.
The real issue is which of these is the greatest threat to the US(SA). I would politely suggest that a North Korean EMP or missile is a far greater threat than a New York Rican on the federal bench.
5 - Ruvy
EB,
I commented elsewhere praising Jordan Richardson on his article on North Korea. The only thing I could contribute would be an interview with Professor Stephen Fox, who taught in North Korea for some years.
But he hasn't been around for some time.
As for the empathetic New York Rican judge nominated to the supreme court, after 9 articles, don't you think it's enough?
As for my own pieces, don't worry, they're in the cooker, in various stages.
6 - Elvira Black
Liked your piece, Marcus. As a New Yorker who now lives in the Bronx, I can't help but take special pride in this nomination.
As they did with Obama, the more radical Repubs are grasping at straws. She's either too "empathetic" or too "harsh" in her "demeanor." What pathetic BS...barring some secret revelation, she's as "clean" as they come, as was Obama---but in any case, I think the only question is how soon Congress will let this through. Would be nice if they did so sooner rather than later.
Hi Ruvy, Dave et al...been awhile...
7 - Bliffle
"What I’ve yet to hear is an explanation of why understanding how the law plays out as a practical matter in everyday life for real human beings is a bad thing."
Because judges are biased in favor of powerful institutions like government agencies and corporations, so to do their duty and crush little weenie citizens they have to remove concern for mere individuals from their considerations.