Senate Debate on Empathy
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Barbara Milano Keenan
U.S. Circuit Judge, Fourth Circuit
Nominated: September 14, 2009
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Committee Questionnaire
Hearing Date:
October 7, 2009
Questions For The Record
Reported By Committee:
Oct. 29, 2009
Confirmed By Senate: March 2, 2010
20xx-xx-xx
- Committee Questionnaire -
Barbara Milano Keenan
http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/111thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/BarbaraKeenan-QFRs.pdf
Responses of Barbara Milano Keenan
Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
to the Written Questions of Senator Jeff Sessions
1. In the notes for a speech you gave to school-age children entitled
7. 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.”
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a. Do you believe that you fit President Obama’s criteria for federal judges,
as described in his quote?
Response: As a judge, I try always to remain aware that parties, whether
rich or poor, come before a court because of difficult issues that they are
unable to resolve, and it is the court’s job to decide those issues impartially
based on the law. I cannot opine regarding President Obama’s criteria for
selecting judges.
b. What role do you believe that empathy should play in a judge’s
consideration of a case?
Response: Empathy is not an analytical tool to be applied in a judge’s
consideration of a case. A judge must always, however, accord to all parties
careful consideration of the issues presented and allow the parties to be heard
fully on those issues.
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?
ii. Please identify any cases in which you’ve done so.
Response: There are no cases in which I have done so.
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: There are no such cases, because empathy is never a
factor in the decisions that I reach as an appellate judge.
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