Obama wants judges with "empathy". Which is about the same as "sympathy". Presumably Obama is looking for judges who will render decisions in favor of the poor, the down trodden, the individual, and give the back of the hand to corporations. In favor of personal injury, asbestos and malpractice plaintiffs over companies and doctors.
Not sure I like this. There are two parties to lawsuits. I want judges to decide fairly between the two parties in accordance with the law, not decide that one plaintiff deserves to win 'cause he is so adorable and sympathetic.
Recent malpractice case decided empathetically by the current Supremes. The plaintiff suffered terrible injuries from improper administration of a powerful drug. The court socked it to the drug manufacturer. The court decided the warning on the bottle label wasn't strong enough, even though the label had been approved by FDA. The decided to take money from an innocent party to compensate the sympathetic victim. Which raises the price of drugs and health care for all of us. Court decisions like this cause health care to eat up 16% of GNP. They could have ruled the medical personnel liable for improper administration of the drug, but the medics don't have enough money to be worth suing.
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