In light of Senator Whitehouse’s statements, highlighted here, I feel the need to repost this diary. I'm hoping to build on Senator Whitehouse's points.
Empathy ensures proper jurisprudence.
In fact, a lack of empathy will often lead to a judge's biased evaluation of the law.
It relates to the concept of "confirmation bias". We, as humans, don’t like to be wrong, and to avoid being wrong it is our tendency to find evidence that supports our theories while ignoring evidence to the contrary.
If you have issues with homosexuality, you will be predisposed to judge related cases with that bias.
If you are convinced of the validity of extreme "free market" ideology regarding economics, you will tend to interpret the law accordingly.
If you have anti-immigrant tendencies, you may be predisposed to read a law in a broader or narrower sense that it was intended, perhaps even subconsciously.
It affects people of all political philosophies. Liberals are just as susceptible as Conservatives. If you are a strong supporter of equal rights for gays and lesbians, you may read more into a law than is actually there.
Empathy involves putting yourself in other peoples’ shoes – even those people with whom you may disagree. It means you can understand multiple ways of looking at the same issue.
Empathy is actually at the heart of justice, providing necessary balance and ensuring that all aspects of a case are considered. Because contrary to what many people think, the law is not always cut and dry. If it were, we wouldn't need the judicial branch in the first place.
Without empathy, it’s almost inevitable that a judge will act in a manner that supports his or her own predispositions, which is exactly what our Conservative friends are decrying. It is actually the lack of empathy that will result in the thing they ostensibly fear most in a jurist - activism.
So, yes, I know this is a short diary. I hope people on all sides of the political spectrum understand the true definition of empathy and why it’s actually a desirable trait in any judge or Justice. Empathy helps to ensure a judge will avoid pre-determined outcomes.
Once again, Obama knew what he was talking about and the Conservatives did not. No surprise to me.