Posted on 06/02/2009 10:04:20 AM PDT by MosesKnows
This has been of concern to me since candidate Obama shared his criteria for selecting a Supreme Court Judge.
Candidate Obama was forth coming regarding his criteria for appointing Supreme Court Judges.
To recap Obama’s stated criteria :
"We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom," and "The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
What made Obama’s revelation so startling was that he also told us that he once taught constitutional law as a Professor. We now know that both the title and the topic were false. However, at the time I thought it was true and I had to ask, would a Constitutional Law Professor omit the Constitution when stating his criteria for appointing Supreme Court Judges?
Candidate Obama’s stated criteria leaves little room for surprise unless he lied about that as we have discovered he lied about so many other campaign statements.
We now know he did not lie as evidenced by his reasons for selecting Supreme Court Judge Appointee Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor, 54, would replace retiring Justice David Souter.
Obama has said that he values judges who are acutely aware of their decisions' real-life impact, and Sotomayor seems to pride herself on that quality. In a November 1998 interview with The Associated Press, she said, "That emotion will never leave me, humility, a deep, deep sense of humility," referring to how she felt signing her first judgment of conviction, an order that sent a drug offender to prison for five years.
Teachers and life taught me about Judges and their ability to judge impartially. Judges must hone their craft to take decisions not effected by their personal feelings in the matter. I remember when enacting mandatory sentencing’s was necessary because Judges allowed their emotions to trump the law.
What prompted me to post my opinion were three unrelated television shows. The first show was Judge Joe Brown when I heard him tell a defendant that as a Judge he could not allow his emotions to enter into his decisions. He was obligated to apply the law. Later that same day I heard Judge Judy echo the same sentiments. These coincide with what I believed was the proper function of a Judge. The third television show was a rerun of “Matlock” wherein Matlock was on the jury. This is the Judges instruction to the jury; “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is now my duty to instruct you in the law as it pertains to this case. It is your duty to follow the law. As jurors, it is your duty to determine the effect and value of the evidence and decide all questions of fact. You must not be influenced by sympathy, prejudice, or passion. The defendant is innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
I have since learned that a jury is more powerful than a Judge. A Judge is not empowered to judge the law, only to judge the evidence. A jury is empowered to judge both the evidence and the law.
Obama’s criteria for appointing Supreme Court Judges ignores these basic concepts of law and I feel that action will prove harmful to the nation, as would all unamended deviations from America’s Constitution.
So if my butt itches the outcome should be different.
Does O have any concern that a SCOTUS nominee understand the Constitution? Will abide by it? No and No. She will make up law on the bench as she always has. Another screw job on America from the dictator O.
Feeling the verdict and all...
I’d like to know on what basis Obama claim to have determined that John Roberts and Samuel Alito lack empathy for teenage moms. (Not that I agree with this criterion for judicial selection.)
Would also like to know if white males are entitled to empathy in O’s sick world.
I must apologize for not considering your butt’s condition in my observation.
Life is not like a bowl of cherries, it is more like a jar of jalapeno peppers, what you do today can burn your butt tomorrow.
</scratch> :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.