Code Words - Empathy & Activist

by Broadway Carl

There has been nonstop cable chatter regarding President Obama's mention of searching for someone with "empathy" to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. I've been hearing it everywhere, including MSNBC, that supposed "liberal," in-the-tank-for-Obama network. There are those who are opposed to what they perceive will be a choice by Obama to lean towards an "activist" judge because his preference is to choose someone who may have some street cred instead of blue blood.

Orrin Hatch: "It's a matter of great concern, if he's saying that he wants to pick people who will take sides. He's also said that a judge has to be a person of empathy -- what does that mean? Usually that's a code word for an activist judge.

...But he also said that, that, he's going to select judges on the basis of their personal politics, their personal feelings, their personal preferences," Hatch said, "Now, you know those are all code words for an activist judge who's going to be partisan on the bench."

Now, it seems to me that the Grand Opposition Party using the term "activist judge" is just code for pro-choice judge. It may also mean a non-white non-male, but that's for another post. But what did President Obama actually say? (1:56)

President Obama: "I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with peoples' hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes. I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our Constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limit of the judicial role. I will seek somebody who shares my respect for the Constitutional values on which this nation was founded..."

It's interesting to see the GOP oppose someone who hasn't even been named yet. But they're not the Party of No.