President Barack Obama Message Board

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Politics : President Barack Obama

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To: nigel bates who wrote (55026)	5/29/2009 2:03:12 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) of 149317

It is if you are arguing that empathy is a quality which should count against judicial candidates. Not exactly. Its potentially positive, potentially neutral, and potentially negative. My main point is not that empathy is bad, either in general or in a judge, but that put empathic feelings ahead of the actual law is bad. My (mostly previously unstated) secondary point would be that empathy shouldn't be one of the top reasons to select or confirm a judge. The extent of habeas corpus rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution are an excellent example of this. There isn't a clear thick line between the two ideas, at the margin things get fuzzy but delineating the exact boundaries of a principle clearly rooted in the constitution, but without precise built in boundaries, is interpreting the law more than its making new law. >>The issue is whether either takes precedence over the actual law.<< No it's not. It very much is. And even if Sotomayor does adhere to the law above empathy or other considerations, that doesn't make it a non-issue in broad terms, it would just imply that its an issue of minimal concern here. And its not at all clear that it really is an issue of no major concern in Sotomayor's case.

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