Judgement Gay

Posted on 05/09/2009 at 1:06 pm by admin

by Lee Stranahan

Hilzoy over at Political Animal writes a must read post called “I Don’t Believe I’ve Ever Met A Homosexual” about the Obama approach to picking a Supreme Court justice. Here’s the theme but you need to read it the whole thing…

….Obama was right to say that he wanted to nominate a justice who is not just “dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role”, but who has the “quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles”. This is not opposed to caring about getting the law right; it’s about understanding what is at stake in various cases well enough to see how the law, as it is written, actually applies.

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  • http://www.xkcd.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    Yes. That was an excellent article. Hilzoy has written the best explanation for why we need empathy as a characteristic of a candidate for SC Justice.This was no doubt a reply to Michael “Teh Tool” Steele’s little diatribe yesterday about how wanting someone with empathy was an absurd notion. I observe that Mr. Aluminum’s ideal candidate for SC Justice would be an uncaring jack-booted thug who believes that laws should be interpreted however necessary to screw the wrong thinking people even when the law clearly protects their right to think the way they do.I think we have more than enough of those already. The constitution was not intended to be a club used to beat people that disagree with you into submission regardless of whatever Justice Scalia thinks.

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    Empathy is something sorely lacking across the whole planet, especially the court system.

  • http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/bird/flamingo/honolulu/flamingo01.jpg veralynn

    Again, explain to me why one of the main tenets of christianity is to love thy neighbor, which implies empathy, is a bad thing to these people?I really hope it doesn’t take them until the elections next year to realize they are being obstinate just for the sake of being obstinate. God/FSM help us, but I am afraid it will take them that long.

  • Teh Minx

    A truly amazing article. Hilzoy brings the point of a SCOTUS Justice needing empathy home in a direct and compassionate manner. How can a justice who has “never met a homosexual” make a ruling that so deeply affects how consenting adults love one another? He can’t. We need empathy on the SCOTUS. A woman justice would be wonderful. Ruth Ginsburg can’t hold on forever. A gay woman? Even better. She can bring a level of empathy that is sorely needed in the highest court in the U.S. by not just interpreting the law– but seeing how it affects the people it protects. This is something that the justice quoted here didn’t see.

  • http://www.xkcd.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    Justice Powell later regretted his opinion on the Bowers v. Hardwick decision. Constitutional scholars decried this decision as an abomination of justice (which it was). Apparently on reading the essays of the scholars criticizing the decision he realized that he had made a very grave error.Like Lee Atwater’s deathbed enlightenment, it was too little, too late. Nice of you to notice that you were wrong, but the damage has been done anyway asshole.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I am 90% certain that Souter is gay (awesome), which is what caused this line of thought anyway. I realized it long before this conversation.

  • http://www.xkcd.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    MG -Now that you mention it, I agree. I believe you are correct.