by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, who is close to making his first appointment to the Supreme Court, says he is looking for a judge who has not been isolated in "the ivory tower,'' one who has "a common touch'' and a sense of "empathy.''
"There are some benchmarks that you have to make sure that you hit,'' Obama says of the appointment he faces in an interview with the president that C-SPAN is airing this morning at 10 am EDT and will air again on Sunday at 10:30 am, 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm EDT.
"Obviously, you want somebody who is highly qualified, who knows the law. I want somebody who, obviously, has a clear sense of our Constitution and its history and is committed to fidelity to the law... is going to make their decisions based on the law that's in front of them.
"But as I've said before, I think it's also important that this is somebody who has common sense and somebody who has a sense of how American society works and how the American people live,'' he says. "And you know, I said earlier that I thought empathy wasn't important quality and I continue to believe that.
"You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law to cases before you,'' he says. "But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living.''
He cites, as an example, the case of Lilly Ledbetter, who had worked for 20 years and was being paid less than male coworkers.
"I think anybody who has ever worked in a job like that understands that they might not know that they were being discriminated against it,'' he says. "It doesn't make sense for their rights to be foreclosed. That's the kind of case, where I want a judge not only to be applying the law in front of them, but also to understand that as a practical matter...
"In some ways it might cut the other way,'' he says. "I want a judge who has a sense of how regulations might affect the businesses in a practical way. And so, when they're interpreting a statute that they are saying, is congressional intent being met in this kind of circumstance. So, if there is a farm program somewhere, and you have somebody who can take the time to learn about how farmers work that's helpful.
"So, in all these cases what I want is not just ivory tower learning,'' Obama says. "I want somebody who has the intellectual fire power, but also a little bit of a common touch and has a practical sense of how the world works.''
Comments
Obama wants a judge who's been in touch with the real world and how it works.
In other words, Obama wants a judge who is the opposite of himself.
Posted by: Speaking Truth to Power | May 23, 2009 10:07 AM
He might find an intellect like Tribe would be more effective at countering the right wing Bush appointees than someone who has to ponder a lot of issues for the first time and doesn't know where the rest rooms are.
Posted by: ornery | May 23, 2009 11:38 AM
The ones on the supposed "list" who have actually represented the common folk are essentially the two Mexican-Americans:
Moreno
and
Chicago's own
Ruben Castillo.
The other judges mentioned have never represented a natural person, meaning a real live human being, as a client.
So the "common touch" remark is a little puzzling.
Posted by: ornery | May 23, 2009 9:32 PM
Deep down Obama wants a judge with a trace of Socialism like himself, which is showing up in him, more and more.
Posted by: Inky | May 24, 2009 12:13 PM
Since Obama specifically cited the Ledbetter case, it's fair to note that what ob ama is suggesting is that judges rule not according to the law, but according to whether the plaintiff belongs to a group the judge (or Obama) favors:
"In his remarks today, Obama is suggesting that more empathy would have led the Court to ignore the statute of limitations [in the Ledbetter case]. Got that? When George Bush ignores FISA's statutory limits to protect American lives, that's a violation of "the rule of law," but when activist judges do it to save a discrimination claim, it is empathy worthy of promotion to the Supreme Court.
Obviously, it's actually an invitation to judicial lawlessness. Yet, simultaneously, Obama absurdly claims such empathy might be helpful to businesses in dealing with the labyrinth of regulations. But what businesses need to conduct their affairs "in a practical way" is certainty: if the new rule of the road is to be that judges will decide which regulations get enforced and which don't based on their subjective sense of result-oriented fairness, what we get is economic chaos and paralysis." (NRO)
Posted by: Speaking Truth to Power | May 24, 2009 4:56 PM