"[W]hen 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.
"And so it's my job to apply the law. It's not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result. But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, 'You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country.' ...
"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."
Well, that about settles it for me. This is empathy gone too far. I'm afraid I have to agree with the Republicans on this one. We can't have justices thinking this way, and they're right to have screamed bloody murder...
Excuse me, what? It was... who? In response to a prompting by which senator? Alito? Coburn? It wasn't... y'know, that Mexican girl?
Sorry.
Never mind.
And, of course, there was Shrub plugging Coke Can Thomas' confirmation:
ReplyDelete"He is a delightful and warm, intelligent person who has great empathy and a wonderful sense of humor."
Echoed by Senator John Danforth:
"His empathy is with the disadvantaged people of this country. He would bring a perspective to the Supreme Court which nobody else brings."
Republicans are made of hypocrisy; it is the fabric of their entire being.
EugeneInSanDiego
So many of the criticisms of her are purely sexist. It's shocking to hear supposedly educated men talk this way about a strong woman because she's a strong woman. And here I thought it was 2009, not 1969.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's Scalia on judges 'making law'.
ReplyDelete"Not only do state-court judges possess the power to "make" common law, but they have the immense power to shape the States' constitutions as well."
So much for the 'Judicial Activism' BS.
EugeneInSanDiego