Speaking in July 2007 at a conference of Planned Parenthood, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama said: “[W]e 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.”

Sen. Obama might I suggest a few additional qualifications?

• knowledge of the law
• understanding of judicial precedent
• respect for the separation of powers
• documented experience
• honor
• integrity
• apolitical

Sen. Obama, your list of qualifications reads like a recruiting ad for a community organizer.  What is required of our judges is honesty not empathy.  Judges who will interpret law not make it.

It is no coincidence the iconography of Justice portrays a blindfolded woman holding both scales and a sword. The set of weighing scales suspended from her left hand measures the strengths of a case’s support and opposition. The double-edged sword in her right hand symbolizes the power of Reason and Justice; wielded either for or against any party.  Most importantly, Lady Justice is depicted wearing a blindfold to indicate that justice is to be meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of the identity, power, or weakness of the claimants.

Judges who’ve 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 are not judges. They’re social workers. Or community activists.