Senate Debate on Empathy
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Mark A. Goldsmith
U.S. District Judge, East. Dist. of Michigan
Nominated: February 4, 2010
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 -
Mark Goldsmith
Responses of Mark A. Goldsmith
Nominee to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
5. 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?
I do not know what the President may have had in mind when he made his statement.
At least one dictionary definition of the term “empathy” is an understanding of
another person’s feelings, situation or motives. As such, it is a cognitive skill, which I
believe I possess.
b. What role do you believe that empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of
a case?
I do not believe empathy plays any role in interpreting the law.
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?
No.
a. If so, under what circumstances?
See above.
ii. Please provide an example of a case in which you have done so.
See above.
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iii. Please provide an example of a case where you had to set aside your own
subjective sense of empathy and rule solely based on the law.
I do not recall a case where I had to set aside my sense of empathy in ruling
on a case.