Senate Debate on Empathy
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Brian Anthony Jackson
U.S. District Judge, Mid. Dis. of Louisiana
Nominated: October 29, 2009
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Committee Questionnaire
Hearing Date:
February 24, 2010
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
March 18, 2010
Confirmed By Senate:
20xx-xx-xx
- Committee Questionnaire -
Brian Jackson
Responses of Brian Anthony Jackson
Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
1. As you may know, President Obama has described the types of judges that he will
nominate to the federal bench as follows:
“We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a
young teenage mom. 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.”
a. I recognize that you do not know what President Obama may or may not have
meant by this statement, do you believe that you fit President Obama’s criteria
for federal judges, as described in his quote?
Response: To the extent the President’s concept of empathy, as applied to judges,
requires that judicial officers be committed to treating all citizens who appear before
them with fairness, looking beyond any personal bias or prejudice, I believe I would
satisfy his criteria.
b. What role do you believe that empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of
a case?
Response: Empathy, as defined in a manner consistent with the concept of “blind
justice,” (that is, a quality of judging that is free of personal bias or personal opinion
and that reflects broadly a factual understanding of the circumstances of the litigants)
is important to our nation’s justice system. Judges should be committed to rendering
decisions that are free of personal bias. A judge’s personal feelings about litigants
should play no role in the court’s rulings.
c. Do you think that it is ever proper for judges to indulge their own subjective
sense of empathy in determining what the law means?
Response: No. Judges should commit themselves to rendering fair and unbiased
justice in a manner consistent with the Constitutional factors identified by the
Supreme Court. A subjective approach to determining what the law means is
inappropriate, as it could result in the failure to following precedent.
i. If so, under what circumstances?
Response: See above.