Barack Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor to be the next Supreme Court Justice, based upon his desire to have someone with “empathy towards people’s struggles.” The problem is that judges aren’t supposed to decide cases based upon empathy. They’re supposed to decide cases based upon the rule of law. Empathetic judges sound well and good if they happen to empathize with your particular race or viewpoint. But what if they’re empathetic towards your enemies? What if they’re empathetic towards terrorists? Or child molesters? Or one particular race to the detriment of another race?

A judge’s decision must be based on the law, not empathy. Making decisions based on feelings will leave the people in a situation where they must observe whatever emotionally driven decision is reached on that particular day, all subject to the mood swings of the judge.  If Sotomayor and four of her colleagues are feeling especially “empathetic” towards Muslims on a particular day, then Christianity is ruled illegal.  If they feel especially “empathetic” towards deer, then hunting becomes illegal.  If they are particularly “empathetic” towards Al Gore, then aerosol cans become illegal.  You get the point.

Sotomayor has stated that her background as a poor, Latina woman makes her able to reach better conclusions than a white male. In a recent commentary, National Review’s [1] Jonah Goldberg pointed out that Clarence Thomas knows better than any Supreme Court Justice what its like to be a poor minority. Therefore according to Obama and Sotomayor’s logic, he should make better decisions than anyone, right? Wrong. Thomas is a conservative; therefore his views are rejected out of hand. But Thomas wouldn’t even claim to be a conservative justice. He would simply say that he makes decisions based upon what the Constitution says. Which is exactly what a Justice is supposed to do, and what Sotomayor has promised not to do, and what Obama has stated he doesn’t want a justice to do.

Commentator [2] Thomas Sowell recently wrote that if you were going to have open-heart surgery, you wouldn’t care about the background, race, or “empathy” of the doctor. You just want the most qualified person to cut on you. Likewise with the Supreme Court. A Justice’s background, race, personality, etc. isn’t the point. We need people who will judge based upon established law, rather than legislate from the bench. But in an address to Duke University, Sotomayor stated publicly that a judge’s role is to “make policy.” Of course she immediately covers her tracks saying that she knows she’s being taped and she shouldn’t say it…though she implies everyone knows it’s true. When listening to Sotomayor’s snide and arrogant comments about judges “making policy” you can also hear the nervous giggles of the Duke students in the background. Sotomayor was publicly stating what liberal judges do, even though the Constitution forbids them from doing it. She tipped her hand and should be voted down en masse. But it will never happen.

The United States Senate is largely made up of political glory hounds who care about nothing other than their own power, pocketbooks, and popularity. They will completely ignore what a Justice is actually supposed to do. They will completely ignore the fact that Sotomayor has vowed not to do it. And they will confirm her quickly because she is a Latina, woman who was appointed by an African-American man.

Of course if the truth were known, Obama only appointed Sotomayor because of her minority status to begin with. At least that coupled with her liberal worldview. Obama narrowed his list of potential Justices to four people….all women. Are we truly supposed to believe that there wasn’t one single man in all the Federal judiciary who was worthy of at least being considered for the Supreme Court? Not one?  Not even a man who is a minority?  Obama needed a women on the Court for political purposes…and if he could find a Hispanic women that would enable him to kiss up to that ever growing section of the electorate, then all the better.

Sotomayor and others like her are a danger to the rule of law in America. By usurping the legislative branch’s role to make laws, liberal justices frequently over rule the will of the people, based on nothing more than their personal preferences. In essence, liberal Justices serve as dictators, doling out decisions based upon their personal whims…or their “empathy” for a particular group or race. And their lack of “empathy” for another. This is racist and has no place in the courtrooms of America. Certainly not the highest court in the land.

If the Senate had any spine whatsoever, they would reject this nomination and any other Obama nomination that doesn’t promise to make decisions based solely upon the law of the land. “Empathetic” judges take the power out of the people’s hands and assume it for themselves. And they have no right under the law to do it.

When Justice John Roberts was being grilled by the Senate, he said that a judge’s job is not to made decisions based on personal preference. He said a judge was like a baseball umpire who was supposed to make judgments based on established law. Can you imagine a baseball umpire changing the rules in the middle of game and granting some hitters four strikes because he felt “empathy” towards them? If he did, the game would be a farce. But that’s exactly what liberal judges do, and they make our courtrooms a farce.

Sotomayor may be the most empathetic person on Earth. She may have an absolute heart of gold. She probably loves butterflies, rainbows, and flex-fuel vehicles. But that’s not the point. She has stated publicly that she will not do the job of a judge, as American Law and her oath of office, states she is supposed to. She won’t judge impartially; she will be “empathetic.”

We need more judges like Roberts and Thomas. Conservative or Liberal has nothing to do with it. Serving as a Judge rather than a Dictator does. Sotomayor promises to be a Dictator. And I for one hope the Senate does what I know they will never do….and vote her down for her lack of judicial integrity. Today we are a nation of laws, but the more “Sotomayors” we have on the court, the closer we come to a totalitarian state where “empathetic judges” rule the lives of the people they’re supposed to be protecting.