Christian Science Monitor - As Justice Sotomayor Hits the High Court, A Defense of Empathy

Nice article - found it at AlterNet, but it comes from The Christian Science Monitor. Strange that empathy became a dirty word during the confirmation hearings.

As Justice Sotomayor Hits the High Court, A Defense of Empathy

By Rick DeJesús-Rueff, Christian Science Monitor. Posted October 7, 2009.

Weighing and balancing perspectives with empathy is a better recipe for justice than "blindness," which can cause us to miss the glaring injustices of our legal system.

Rochester, N.Y. - The U.S. Supreme Court returns to work this week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor begins her first term, and the highly charged debate over "empathy" is, for the moment, dormant.

But now -- in this less heated environment -- is a good time to reconsider the value of empathy as one qualification for nominees to the court.

President Obama cited empathy as a quality he sought in nominees, yet empathy suffered criticism and derision from opponents of Justice Sotomayor. Listening to the critics, you might believe empathy renders a person incapable of rational and fair judgment.

"I'm afraid our system will only be further corrupted as a result of President Obama's views that, in tough cases, the critical ingredient for a judge is the 'depth and breadth of one's empathy,' as well as 'their broader vision of what America should be,' " claimed Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama, a critic of Sotomayor and empathy injustices.

Read the whole article.

Tags: empathy, law, ethics, government, Christian Science Monitor, Justice Sotomayor, High Court, A Defense of Empathy, Supreme Court, Rick DeJesús-Rueff, blind justice