Evansville Observer: Gazette: OpEd: Should "empathy" overrule "law"?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Gazette: OpEd: Should "empathy" overrule "law"?

Click on the post for the OpEd in the Gazette today.

2 comments:

Matt Gaboda3:41 PM
This is a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. We all want judges who can look at a case and identify with it at some level. To me it is like "don't ask don't tell". I don't want a proud Supreme Court Justice. I want a poker face who speaks in riddles. It is ignorant to think a Justice can be a robot when it comes to the law, but I want to know facts, not gut feelings. I love not knowing exactly what a judge thinks. Our constitution does read better because someone is or is not a certain race or sex.

As far as the quote about a white male, that was a second grade comment from someone who may have a say in permanent decisions that could change lives forever. If I wanted to hear crap quotes like that, I'd stay home from work and watch a "Judge" show on Fox.

She will get appointed, it will be quick and with limited controversy.
You gotta love politics.
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Anonymous10:56 AM
Two recent U.S. Supreme Court cases show what happens when justices/judges are too long removed from the 'real world'. In "Atwater v. City of Lago Vista", more commonly known as the "soccer mom" case, an ordinary, middle-class mom was driving her young children home in a residential area. One of the local cops arrested her, putting on handcuffs in front of her screaming, scared children, and took her to jail for--not wearing her seatbelt. She spent several hours in jail before seeing a judge, even though Texas law specifically forbids jail as a sentence for this offense. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld the custodial arrest, even though calling out the cop for poor judgment. I suspect these 9 justices--being out of real circulation for years--simply have never had to deal with a cop with an attitude. The second case, the name of which escapes me, involved a California law enforcement agency executing a search warrant. When the broke the door in at 5 or 6 in the morning, they found a white man and woman in bed; they were both naked, but forced to stand nude for "a few minutes" while the police checked the rest of the house. The cops didn't know that the 4 blacks they were looking for moved out FOUR MONTHS earlier. In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that law abiding citizens must sometimes accept embarassing circumstances like this so the cops can catch the bad guys. WHAT??? You will never convince me that had something like this happened to one of their spouses, it would be written off in such a cavalier manner. In short, if people get in the way of the law, then appoint computers to the court. If that offends anyone, as it should, then look for real people, with appropriate knowledge and education, for these positions.
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