Sotomayor: Activism and Empathy, Oh My!

by Kakofonous

President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States came as no surprise to observers of the legal political scene in Washington. She has an impeccable resumé: Sotomayor graduated cum laude from Princeton, then went to Yale Law where she edited the Yale Law Review. She later served in judging positions, having been appointed both by George Bush, Sr. and Bill Clinton. Her personal history, involving a move from the Bronx housing projects to Princeton and a relatively high-profile career in law, is pitch-perfect from a political standpoint (if confirmed, she would be the first Latina, and third woman, on the Court), appealing to the Hispanic voting bloc, which is still well in play for the 2010 and 2012 elections. At the moment, the major Republican talking point against liberal judges (or, more accurately, judges appointed by Democratic presidents, as Sotomayor is widely perceived as a centrist) is the supposedly unfortunate predeliction for "empathy", which, apparently, is code for "activist judge". While Sotomayor may not be a raging leftist, she is certainly fair game for the activist charge, as this widely circulated YouTube clip reveals, it is puzzling to me why empathy is such a terrible quality in a judge.

Of course, the law should not be bent or circumvented in favor of one party in a case over another. But the very reason we have the hierarchical court system we do is that some cases are more difficult than others to resolve. Law needs interpretation to become justice; it seems to me that empathy is a good a quality as any for a reasoned judge to have in the courtroom. To understand the circumstances from which a party came, to possess as near a holistic understanding of the case as possible before reaching a verdict, is an essential quality in a court of law. I do not suggest that empathy in a judge should interfere with impartiality, but merely that it should form part of a doubtlessly difficult decision.

Here's a link to an article from Slate about empathy in a judicial setting.