Senate Debate on Empathy
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J. Michelle Childs
U.S. District Judge, Dist. of South Carolina
Nominated: December 22, 2009
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Committee Questionnaire
Hearing Date:
April 16, 2010
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
May 6, 2010
Confirmed By Senate:
20xx-xx-xx
- Committee Questionnaire - Michelle Childs
Responses of J.
Michelle Childs
Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
4. During the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama 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. Without commenting on 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. Because President Obama nominated me, I presume I fit his
criteria for federal judges.
b. During her confirmation hearing, Justice Sotomayor rejected this so-called
“empathy standard” stating, “We apply the law to facts. We don’t apply
feelings to facts.” Do you agree with Justice Sotomayor?
Response: Yes.
c. What role do you believe empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of a
case?
Response: Empathy should play no role in a judge’s application of the law to the
facts of a case.
d. 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.
i. If so, under what circumstances?
Response: Not applicable.
ii. Please identify any cases in which you have done so.
Response: None.
iii. If not, please discuss an example of a case where you have had to set
aside your own subjective sense of empathy and rule based solely on
the law.
Response:
I have had cases involving plaintiffs with significant injurieswho have failed to timely file a complaint within the applicable statute of
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limitations period. When the law required me to dismiss the case, I
followed the law faithfully.
e. As you know, Justice Stevens recently announced his retirement. The
President said that he will select a Supreme Court nominee with “a keen
understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people.”
Do you believe judges should base their decisions on a desired outcome, or
solely on the law and facts presented?
Response: I believe judges should base their decisions solely on the law and facts
presented in the case.