"Empathy" and Obama's Judicial Philosophy--Star-Ledger Reader Forum

The following letter was published in the New Jersey Star-Ledger on 5/15/09. My comments follow, and you can read my blog post at Principled Perspectives for more.

Empathy is needed

I was nauseated reading Kevin O'Brien's recent op-ed article ("You won't find 'empathy' in the Constitution," May 8).

O'Brien objects to President Obama's stated desire to replace retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter with an individual who feels empathy with suffering Americans. O'Brien feels empathy has no place in government, and that " equal protection under the law, which is a bedrock of American jurisprudence," precludes officials from entertaining feelings of empathy. O'Brien opines that "empathy assumes partiality." Was the Bush administration showing partiality toward Halliburton when it awarded the contractor -- which was formerly headed by former vice president Dick Cheney -- so many lucrative no-bid contracts? Did Valerie Plame enjoy equal protection under the law when Scooter Libby was pardoned by President George W. Bush after publicly exposing the undercover CIA agent? Did the wealthier elements of American society enjoy empathetic treatment by the Republicans when their taxes were slashed, and America rolled up a humongous deficit as Bush attempted to conquer the world?

Every administration is characterized by empathetic feelings toward one segment of society or another.

It just so happens that after eight years of Republican empathy for the elite, America now has a president who feels empathy toward the larger mass of humanity that doesn't enjoy the wealth the richest one percent of society possesses.

Bill Gottdenker, Mountainside

My Commentary:

Posted by Zemack on 05/16/09 at 8:04PM

Bill Gottdenker needs to refresh his understanding of history. One of history's greatest achievement's is the founding of a nation...the United States of America...on the principle of "a government of laws, and not of men". That principle is, sadly, being steadily eroded as government increases its power and control.

The erosion of that American principle has, indeed, resulted in a mixed economy in which "Every administration is characterized by empathetic feelings toward one segment of society or another." We have become a nation of warring special interest pressure groups fighting (non-violently, so far) for the levers of government power, in order to gain through force some economic advantage that it cannot get voluntarily in the private market...each at the expense of others. This non-violent "civil war" is what happens when the objective rule of law breaks down, and the arbitrary whims of government officials and politicians...a "government of men"...takes over.

Now President Obama wants to undermine and corrupt our courts by inserting the arbitrary emotional whims...the "empathy"...of judges as a substitute for facts, logic, and objective law. This is a highly dangerous development and a major threat to justice. Mr. Gottdenker seems to believe that "the larger mass of humanity" would somehow benefit from the breakdown of objective law and equal, blind justice. But "a government of men" is tyranny, and the greatest victims of tyranny throughout history have always been the average citizen. America, the "government of laws", has always been a place of achievement for the "little guy", precisely because of the equal protection under the law that he can count on.

No, it hasn't been perfect or always consistently practiced. Nevertheless, a government of laws and not of men is an indespensable protector of "the larger mass of humanity". Inverting that principle leads to the rule of brutality, and Obama has taken us a major step down that dark road.