Senate Debate on Empathy
=====================================

 

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9027865

<PREV EXECUTIVE SESSION NEXT>

Text From the Congressional Record

 


Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
 
Begin 2009-08-04 20:49:17
End   20:55:24
Length 00:06:07
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I am a father of daughters who were raised with the belief that the United States is only as strong as its commitment to combating prejudice and promoting equality under the law. It is something I learned from my own mother. I am also a husband of a woman whose parents' sacrifice allowed her to be the first in her family to go to college, opening a world of possibility grounded in the basic American values of hard work and opportunity for all. It is with them in mind
and with appreciation for the confidence Judge Sonia Sotomayor inspires that I am proud to support her to be the next Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Sotomayor has cleared hurdle after hurdle to achieve the promise of the American dream. She has earned the admiration of her peers by demonstrating again and again her respect for the law, her respect for the rule of law, and her dedication to its impartial interpretation. For more than three decades, as we have heard on the floor and we heard in committee, as a district attorney in New York, a civil litigator in private practice, a Federal judge in the Second Court of Appeals, Judge Sotomayor
has shown that she is tough and she is fair and she is a thoughtful arbiter of justice. She will be an outstanding Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

During her confirmation hearings, Judge Sotomayor responded thoughtfully and thoroughly to a wide range of questions. In fact, she answered more questions in depth than any nominee in [Page: S8754]
recent history. Combined with first-class legal reasoning and disciplined intellect, Sonia Sotomayor's life experiences will make her a valuable addition to the Court.

She was raised in public housing in the Bronx. At age 9, she lost her father, a factory worker. Raised by her mother, a nurse, she battled childhood diabetes while excelling at every level in school. My best friend also suffered from childhood diabetes. He lived with diabetes for some 40 years. I know how it made him more disciplined, it made him more compassionate, and if I could use the word, it made him more empathetic toward those around him. It made him an all-around better person, it made
him a better judge of character, and it made him more fair.

After graduating from our Nation's finest universities, Sonia Sotomayor reached the heights of the legal profession. Each of these experiences exposed her to the array of the American experience.

Current and former Supreme Court Justices from across the ideological spectrum have described how their personal experiences informed their judicial perspective. Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, nominated by President Reagan, once said: We're all creatures of our upbringing. We bring whatever we are as people to a job like the Supreme Court. We have our life experiences.

Empathy, perhaps?
Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative nominated by President Bush, said during his confirmation hearings:   When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of the ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Empathy, perhaps?

I don't recall when Judge Alito appeared in front of the Judiciary Committee that people questioned his empathy and questioned his ability to do his job because of his background. Similarly, Judge Sotomayor's background and life experiences will impart a new sense of perspective to the Court.

As I hear this discussion of empathy and I hear this accusation of Judge Sotomayor being an activist judge, I think about who has sat on the Supreme Court through much of this Nation's history. Most of the people who sat on the Supreme Court were people of privilege. Most of the people who sat on the Supreme Court were people who were born into privilege. We have seen the Supreme Court, the highest Court in the land, particularly in recent years, side in case after case with the wealthy over
the poor.

We have seen them side with large corporations over workers. We have seen them side with the elite of our society over others in our society. Maybe they decided that way because the Justices came from privileged backgrounds themselves and that is the way they saw the world around them. I don't hear those discussions on the floor. I didn't hear those discussions in the Senate Judiciary Committee from those who oppose Judge Sotomayor's nomination.

Similar to Presidents Reagan and Bush and every President before, President Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor because he felt her views and her interpretations of our Nation's law reflect the way forward for our Nation. On issues ranging from criminal justice and labor and employment, Judge Sotomayor has an extraordinary record of following, defending, and upholding the rule of law as a Federal prosecutor, as a trial judge, and as an appellate judge. Nearly every major law enforcement organization
in this Nation, ranging from the Fraternal Order of Police to the National Sheriff's Association to the National District Attorneys Association, has endorsed her. The American Bar Association awarded its highest ratings when evaluating Judge Sotomayor's judicial temperament and her treatment of all litigants. And the Judiciary Committee
has received a letter of support for Judge Sotomayor's nomination from the American Hunters and Shooters Association, an organization that advocates for second amendment rights. The association told us some in the firearm community have leveled a number of charges against Judge Sotomayor that do not pass the truth test. They also wrote:


Conservatives should applaud Judge Sotomayor as a model of judicial restraint on the Circuit Court, even if that restraint has frustrated gun rights outcomes in the immediate cases.


Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follow



AMERICAN HUNTERS & SHOOTERS ASSOCIATION,

June 29, 2009.
Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Leahy: In 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Senator Al D'Amato (R-NY) led the fight for her initial Senate confirmation, which was approved by unanimous consent. Her later nomination to the U.S. Appeals Court (Second Circuit) was made by President Bill Clinton and also moved along by then Senator Al D'Amato. She received strong bi-partisan support with a vote of 67-29.

Some in the firearm community have leveled a number of charges against Judge Sotomayor that do not pass the truth test. In the recent case of Maloney v. Cuomo, a unanimous Second Circuit panel, which included Judge Sotomayor acknowledged that the landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller confers an individual right of citizens to keep and bear arms.

The Maloney court also explained, as the Heller majority had, that earlier Supreme Court precedents had held that the Second Amendment ``is a limitation only upon the power of congress and the national government and not upon that of the state.'' The panel noted that while Heller raises questions about those earlier Supreme Court decisions, the Second Circuit was obligated to follow direct precedent ``leaving to the Supreme Court the prerogative of overruling its own decisions.'' While we are
disappointed that the Supreme Court has not yet extended this right to the states, we note that Conservative Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th Circuit agreed with Sotomayor's ruling as being consistent with precedent. Judge Sotomayor has established herself as a model jurist
in terms of respecting precedent. We suspect that her critics from the leadership of several well-known gun organizations are just as interested in supporting precedent as she is, now that the precedent to be protected is clearly enshrined within the Heller decision.

As the President of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, I am eager to see the Supreme Court take up the incorporation issue of the Second Amendment to the states. As a gun owner in Maryland, it is my fervent hope that the Supreme Court will extend the protections guaranteed by the Second Amendment, as defined in the Heller decision, to the citizens of the United States of America who reside outside the District of Columbia, as it has with the First and Fourth Amendments.

Our own views on gun ownership notwithstanding, it is the role of the President, who was elected by a rather impressive majority, to nominate and the Senate's duty to advise and consent. The Senate would be wise to consent to this nomination.

Conservatives should applaud Judge Sotomayor as a model of judicial restraint on the Circuit Court, even if that restraint has frustrated gun rights outcomes in the immediate cases. As moderate progressives, we hope that the nominee views the settled law in Heller as ripe for an activist expansion by incorporation to the states in harmonizing the different Circuit Court decisions.

On behalf of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, we extend our strong support for the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. We fervently hope you and your fellow Judiciary Committee members will see fit to support this nomination.

Most respectfully submitted,

Ray Schoenke,
President.