Thomas Sowell on Justice Souter

[DamnYankee]

Thomas Sowell, Economist, Author and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, On Retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter:

"That President Obama has made 'empathy' with certain groups one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court nominee is a dangerous sign of how much farther the Supreme Court may be pushed away from the rule of law and toward even more arbitrary judicial edicts to advance the agenda of the Left and set it in legal concrete, immune from the democratic process."


Agree or disagree?

 

[jillian]

I think it's an absurdist comment.

where's his article where he talks about Souter? (my favorite justice on the bench,btw).

and why pump up his qualifications?

he isn't a justice, is he? an attorney? a constitutional scholar?

 

[rayboyusmc]

Sowell is a die hard rightie.

Empathy does not necessarily cloud one's ability to render a correct decision.

And let's face it, the rightie judies rule rightie, the lefties rule lefty.

This is not about the rule of law, it is about trying to stack the court with right leaning justices who are for some reason not considered activist.

You need a mixture of both sides and some moderates.

 

[wihosa]

If there was ever an activist judicial ruling from the Supreme Court it was Bush v Gore.

And the last thing that we want is a judge to have empathy, why would we want the judge to understand how someone who was wronged feels?

 

[DamnYankee]

I think it's an absurdist comment.

where's his article where he talks about Souter? (my favorite justice on the bench,btw).

and why pump up his qualifications?

he isn't a justice, is he? an attorney? a constitutional scholar?

His article:
Thomas Sowell

He isn't talking about Soulter, BTW. He's talking about Obama and his upcoming selection to replace Soulter.

Where is the pump? Was there a claim that he was a justice, an attorney, or a constitutional scholar?

That, BTW, is as absurd as one poster telling me that I am unqualified to adddress the topic of the budget and the deficit because I am not an economist! BS.... Particularly since I do deal with a municipal budget, which BTW must be balanced just as state budgets must be -- something the Feds don't seem to feel the need for.

 

[DamnYankee]

Sowell is a die hard rightie.

Empathy does not necessarily cloud one's ability to render a correct decision.

And let's face it, the rightie judies rule rightie, the lefties rule lefty.

This is not about the rule of law, it is about trying to stack the court with right leaning justices who are for some reason not considered activist.

You need a mixture of both sides and some moderates.

I might agree with you (and I do with regard to the mixture of both sides) on the empathy issue were it not for the fact that Obama had a problem with Roberts on the basis of, in his opinion, 1% of cases where he felt that Roberts did not show the proper empathy and impartiality, and refused to vote for his confirmation for that reason. There was no evidence then, and has been no evidence since, that Roberts was, or has been, anything other than fair and impartial. What Obama wants, IMO, is someone who will feel the law rather than interpret the law.