Saturday, June 6, 2009

GOP Response: Sesssions on Sotomayor

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) gave the Republican address this morning, and crystallized the danger of nominating judges based on empathy (or their status as a "wise Latina woman," like Judge Sonia Sotomayor):

“If a judge is allowed to let his or her feelings for one party in the case sway his decision, hasn’t that judge then demonstrated a bias against the other party?

“And, if a judge is allowed to inject his personal views into the interpretation of the law, does he not then have a license to rewrite the laws to fit his own preferences?

“I fear that this ‘empathy standard’ is another step down the path to a cynical, relativistic, results-oriented world:

-- Where words and laws have no fixed meaning;
-- Where unelected judges set policy;
-- And where Constitutional limits on government power are ignored when they are inconvenient to the powerful.

“This standard is deeply troubling because it is so contradictory to our country’s long heritage of a faithful and impartial adherence to the rule of law.

Well said, Sen. Sessions.

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