Posted by Orin Kerr:
Barack Obama Speaks Again on the Judiciary:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_05_04-2008_05_10.shtml#1210345761
In an [1]interview yesterday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Barack Obama
spoke again on what kind of judge he would want appointed to the
federal courts (he discusses the topic starting around the 9 minute
mark). An excerpt:
What you're looking for is somebody who is going to apply the law
where it's clear. Now there's gonna be those five percent of cases
or one percent of cases where the law isn't clear. And the judge
has to then bring in his or her own perspectives, his ethics, his
or her moral bearings -- and, in those circumstances, what I do
want is a judge who is sympathetic enough to those who are on the
outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those
who can't have access to political power and as a consequence can't
protect themselves from being being dealt with sometimes unfairly.
The courts become a refuge for justice. That's been its historic
role. That was its role in Brown v. Board of Education.
Unfortunately, Blitzer did not ask Obama an open-ended question of
which Justices past or present he most admires, to get a better idea
of what Obama has in mind. Instead, Blitzer asked Obama which Justices
Obama likes among the Justices on the bench "right now." Obama
responds that he thinks Justices Breyer and Ginsburg are "very
sensible," and that even Justice Souter - who Obama notes is a
Republican-nominated Justice --is " a sensible judge."
References
1. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/08/obama/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
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