Makes Me Wanna Holla: Supreme Court Nominations “Empathy” Hypocrisy
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 16, 2009, before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
“During the campaign, [Obama] promised to nominate someone who’s got the heart and the empathy to recognize what it’s like to be a young, teenaged mom. The implication is that our judges today don’t have that. Do you realize how astounding that is? The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, to be African-American or gay or disabled or old…. I believe that standard is antithetical to the proper role of a judge.
Judge Sotomayor… you must demonstrate that you will strictly interpret the Constitution and our laws and will not be swayed by your personal biases or your political preferences, which you’re entitled to…A nominee who does not adhere to these standards necessarily rejects the role of a judge as dictated by the Constitution and should not be confirmed.”
-Opening statement of Senator Tom Coburn in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, July 13, 2009.
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SENATOR COBURN: You know, I think at times during these hearings you have been unfairly criticized or characterized as that you don’t care about the less fortunate, you don’t care about the little guy, you don’t care about the weak or the innocent.
Can you comment just about Sam Alito, and what he cares about, and let us see a little bit of your heart and what’s important to you in life?
JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO: When a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant–and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases–I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position…
When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account…
COBURN: Thank you.
–Exchange between Senator Tom Coburn and Judge Samuel Alito during Alito’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, January 11, 2006.
Author: Andrew Grant-Thomas (8 Articles)
Andrew Grant-Thomas is Deputy Director of the Kirwan Institute. He directs the Institute’s internal operations and oversees much of its US-based programming. His substantive interests include structural racism and implicit bias, alliance-building between immigrants and African Americans, African American males and gender dynamics within the African American community, and the promotion of systems thinking through videogames. Andrew serves as Associate Editor of the Institute’s journal, Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts. He also edited Twenty-first Century Color Lines: Multiracial Change in Contemporary America, published in 2008 by Temple University Press. He is sits on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and various social justice initiatives. Andrew came to the Kirwan Institute in February of 2006 from the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University where he directed the Color Lines Conference and managed a range of policy-oriented racial justice projects. He received his B.A. in Literature from Yale University, his M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago.
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