Senate Debate on Empathy
=====================================
William Joseph Martinez
U.S. District Judge, District of Colorado
Nominated: February 24, 2010
ABA Rating: Unanimously 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 -
William Martinez
Responses of William Joseph Martínez
Nominee to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado
To the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
13. 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: Given the fact I was nominated by the President to be a U.S. District Judge, I have to assume I fit the criteria President Obama and his staff have established for the position.
b. What role do you believe that empathy should play in a judge’s consideration of a case?
Response: Empathy should never be the basis upon which a judge makes his or her decisions. Empathy can, however, provide a judge with additional insight and perspective into the intent and motivations of the parties appearing before the court.
12
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?
Response: No.
i. If so, under what circumstances?
Response: See above.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Please describe with particularity the process by which these questions were answered.
Response: I drafted the responses to these questions, and finalized them after obtaining input from attorneys with the Department of Justice.
17. Do these answers reflect your true and personal views?
Response: Yes.