Senate Debate on Empathy
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Gary Scott Feinerman
U.S. District Judge, North. Dist. of Illinois
Nominated: February 24, 2010
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Committee Questionnaire
Hearing Date:
March 10, 2010
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
April 15, 2010
Confirmed By Senate:
20xx-xx-xx
- Committee Questionnaire -
Gary Feinerman
Responses of Gary Scott Feinerman
Nominee to the United States District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
4. 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: Yes, with respect to that criterion, I believe I have empathy for other persons.
b. What role do you believe that empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of a case?
Response: I believe a judge should treat litigants and lawyers with dignity and respect, that empathy is not an analytical tool, and that cases should be decided based on the governing law and the relevant facts.
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c. Do you think that it’s ever proper for judges to indulge their own subjective sense of empathy in determining what the law means? If so, under what circumstances?
Response: No.
5. Do you think it is ever proper for judges to indulge their own values in determining what the law means? If so, under what circumstances?
Response: No.
6. Do you think it is ever proper for judges to indulge their own policy preferences in determining what the law means? If so, under what circumstances?
Response: No.
United States
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
to the Written Questions of Senator Tom Coburn, M.D.