Senate Debate on Empathy
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Timothy S. Black
U.S. District Judge, South. Dist. of Ohio
Nominated: December 24, 2009
ABA Rating: Substantial Majority Well Qualified, Minority
Qualified
Committee Questionnaire
Hearing Date:
January 20, 2010
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
February 11, 2010
Confirmed By Senate: May 11, 2010
20xx-xx-xx
- Committee Questionnaire - Timothy Black
Responses of Timothy S. Black
Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
6. 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. 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, as I believe I am an understanding person. Yet I fully recognize that my role as a judge is to decide each case with independence and impartiality, based solely on the evidence and the law.
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, I agree with Justice Sotomayor’s statement.
c. What role do you believe empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of a case?
Response: I do not believe that empathy should play any role in a judge’s deciding of a case. Empathy is helpful to a judge only in communicating to all parties that their case will be decided impartially.
d. Do you think that it’s ever proper for judges to indulge their own subjective sense of empathy in determining what the law means?
Response: No, I do not think it’s ever proper for judges to indulge their own subjective sense of empathy in determining what the law means.
i. Please identify any cases in which you’ve done so.
Response: I have not done so.
ii. 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 always ruled solely on the evidence and law and therefore I have never had to set aside my own subjective sense of empathy. In my 16 years as a trial court judge, I have felt sorry for some people against whom I have ruled, but I have ruled against them, whenever the evidence and law required it.
Responses of Timothy S. Black
Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
to the Written Questions of Senator Charles E. Grassley
1. What is your view of the role of a judge?
Response: The role of the judge is to decide each case with independence and impartiality, based solely on the evidence and the law.2. Do you believe it is ever appropriate for judges to indulge their own values in determining the meaning of statutes and the U.S. Constitution?
Response: No.
a. If so, under what circumstances?
Response: None.
b. Please provide an example of a case in which you have done so.
Response: I have not done so.
c. Please provide an example of a case where you have had to set aside your own values and rule based solely on the law.
Response: I rule solely on the evidence and the law, without consideration of my own values.
3. Do you believe it is ever appropriate for judges to indulge their own policy preferences in determining the meaning of statutes and the U.S. Constitution?
Response: No.
a. If so, under what circumstances?
Response: None.
b. Please provide an example of a case in which you have done so.
Response: I have not done so.
c. Please provide an example of a case where you have had to set aside your own policy preferences and rule based solely on the law.
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Response: I rule solely on the evidence and the law, without consideration of my own policy preferences.
4. How do you define "judicial activism?"
Response: It is not a term I use, but I understand others to define it as conduct by a judge in deciding a case according to his or her own personal predilections and not based solely on the evidence and the law as required.