In a political rally in March, 2008, Obama was fielding questions from the audience and was asked about the qualities he envisions for a potential Supreme Court justice.
Obama answered: 'I want my justice to understand that part of the role of the court is to look out for the people who don't have political power. The people who are on the outside. The people who aren't represented. The people who don't have a lot of money; who don't have connections. That's the role of the court."
In 2007 Obama said: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, 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. And that's the criterion by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
And, recently, after Justice David Souter announced his retirement, Obama said this:
"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
Well, a fake "firestorm" of controversy has now arisen over Obama's use of the word "empathy", of wanting an "empathetic" justice.
Last week on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, Hannity and his conservative panel interpreted "empathy" as Black Code for how he will appoint a radical community organizer to the Court to write laws for the purpose of radical social engineering, which is "simply not what Supreme Court justices are supposed to do".
Hannity notes that there is a zero percent chance of this scenario not happening: He is far more radical. There is no evidence that he has any moderation in him, Brian, at all. He has moved far more radically left on the economy and on homeland security; I would expect THE most radical justice he can get through.
Conservative columnist Carol Platt Liebau (of Townhall.com) writes:
"President Obama is deftly deploying warm, fuzzy rhetoric to signal that he intends to select a justice with a very specific left-wing policy agenda. Looking for a nominee who is concerned about whether people can make a living and care for their families means he is seeking a judge who will side with unions or plaintiffs against businesses.... Selecting a judge pledged to make people feel welcome in their own nation means naming a justice with the politically correct views on hot button social issues ranging from gay marriage to affirmative action to immigration to removing faith from the public square."
(She titled her column: "'Empathetic' Justices Threaten Our Freedom")
On "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", senator Orrin Hatch tells us that "empathy" is a "code word for an activist judge".
YouTube - Bipartisan Republican = Jumbo Shrimp
Obama answered: 'I want my justice to understand that part of the role of the court is to look out for the people who don't have political power. The people who are on the outside. The people who aren't represented. The people who don't have a lot of money; who don't have connections. That's the role of the court."
In 2007 Obama said: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, 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. And that's the criterion by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
And, recently, after Justice David Souter announced his retirement, Obama said this:
"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
Well, a fake "firestorm" of controversy has now arisen over Obama's use of the word "empathy", of wanting an "empathetic" justice.
Last week on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, Hannity and his conservative panel interpreted "empathy" as Black Code for how he will appoint a radical community organizer to the Court to write laws for the purpose of radical social engineering, which is "simply not what Supreme Court justices are supposed to do".
Hannity notes that there is a zero percent chance of this scenario not happening: He is far more radical. There is no evidence that he has any moderation in him, Brian, at all. He has moved far more radically left on the economy and on homeland security; I would expect THE most radical justice he can get through.
Conservative columnist Carol Platt Liebau (of Townhall.com) writes:
"President Obama is deftly deploying warm, fuzzy rhetoric to signal that he intends to select a justice with a very specific left-wing policy agenda. Looking for a nominee who is concerned about whether people can make a living and care for their families means he is seeking a judge who will side with unions or plaintiffs against businesses.... Selecting a judge pledged to make people feel welcome in their own nation means naming a justice with the politically correct views on hot button social issues ranging from gay marriage to affirmative action to immigration to removing faith from the public square."
(She titled her column: "'Empathetic' Justices Threaten Our Freedom")
On "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", senator Orrin Hatch tells us that "empathy" is a "code word for an activist judge".
YouTube - Bipartisan Republican = Jumbo Shrimp
