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Senate Debate on Empathy
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This page has transcripts and video from the Senate debate on empathy. The debate was started by Barack Obama saying that empathy was one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court Justice. The debate heated up with the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. I've selected and organized around 90 video clips and 3 hours of transcripts from this Senate debate on empathy. |
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George Lakoff is Professor of
Linguistics at UC Berkeley and Author of the
The Political Mind. He says empathy is the foundation of progressive
values and wrote this article about the attacks in Congress by
conservatives on empathy. Empathy, Sotomayor, and Democracy: The Conservative Stealth Strategy |
Discussions on Empathy by Senator
(click on image to play each video)
| 2005-09-22 - Obama on Roberts (1 of 90) | ||||
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Barack
Obama as Senator talks about why he can not support Roberts for the Supreme
Court. He says Roberts tends to side with the powerful. Implies he doesn't
have empathy for the average citizen. |
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| 2006-01-26 - Obama on Samuel Alito (2 of 90) | ||||
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Barack Obama as Senator talks about why he can not support Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. He says a justice needs a sense of empathy to deal with the 5% of very difficult cases. Implies Alito doesn't have this empathy. | |||
| 2007-07-17 - Obama at Planned Parenthood (3 of 90) | ||||
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Candidate Barack Obama says that if elected president, he will select a Supreme Court justice that has empathy. | |||
| 2008-03-02 - Westerville, OH - Town Hall Meeting | ||||
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At the Westerville
OH, Town Hall Meeting, Obama says he will choose Supreme Court Judges with
heart and empathy. "What I want on the bench are people who have
enough empathy, enough feeling for what ordinary people are going through." Obama references, Brown v. Board of Education as an example of judges having empathy. |
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| 2008-08-16 - Saddleback Civil Forum and Supreme Court | ||||
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Talks about nominating Supreme Court Justices. | |||
| 2009-05-01 - Obama on David Souter retirement (4 of 90) | ||||
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After hearing that David Souter will retire from the Supreme Court, President Barack Obama holds a press conference and says empathy will be one of his criteria for choosing a new justice. | |||
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2008-01-22
- Christopher Smith
2008-11-20 - Bob Corke - (don't need) |
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2009
| 2009-05-03 - Arlen Specter - Meet The Press - Empathy (5 of 90) | ||||
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(need outline comments) | |||
| 2009-05-05 - Mitch McConnell (6 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-05-06 - Ted Poe (7 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-05-13 - Roland Burris (8 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-06-09 - Jon Kyl (9 of 90) | ||||
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| x | 2009-06-17 - Jeff Sessions (10 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-17 - Richard Durbin (11 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-17 - Patrick Leahy (12 of 90) | |||
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(talk) | |||
| x | 2009-06-18 - Whitehouse ACS panel (13 of 90) | |||
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| ( ) | 2009-06-23 - Gibbs - (press secretary not of interest) | |||
| x | 2009-06-23 - Mitch McConnell (14 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-23 - Jeff Sessions (15 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-23 - Bob Menendez (16 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-24 - Orrin Hatch (17 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-06-24 - Sam Brownback (18 of 90) | |||
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| x | 2009-07-07 - Jeff Sessions (19 of 90) | |||
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Sotomayor
Hearings Overview
2009-07-13 - Day 1 - All - Senators Opening -
Sotomayor Opening
| 2009-07-13 - Mitch McConnell (20 of 90) | ||||
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(on senate floor) | |||
| 2009-07-13 - Jeff Sessions (21 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-13 - Chuck Grassley (22 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-13 - Jon Kyl (23 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-13 - Sheldon Whitehouse (24 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-13 - Tom Coburn (25 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-13 - Dick Durbin (26 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-14 - Sheldon Whitehouse (27 of 90) | ||||
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(on MSNBC) | |||
| 2009-07-14 - Patrick Leahy (28 of 90) | ||||
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(get
into sympathies)
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| 2009-07-14 - Jeff Sessions (29 of 90) | ||||
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(get into sympathies) | |||
| 2009-07-14 - Russ Feingold (30 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-14 - Jon Kyl (31 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-14 - Chuck Schumer (32a of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-14 - Chuck Schumer (32b of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-15 - Charles Grassley (33 of 90) | ||||
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(in interview) | |||
| 2009-07-15 - Arlen Specter (34 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-15 - Orrin Hatch (35 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-16 - Jon Kyl (36 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-16 - Mr. Henderson (37 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-16 - Lt. Vagus (38 of 90) | ||||
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| (are others to sort) | ||||
2009-07-28 - Day 5 - Committee Approves Sotomayor (couldn't find full
transcripts)
| 2009-07-28 - Orin Hatch (39 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - Chuck Grassley (40 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - Lindsey Graham (41 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - John Cornyn (42 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - Dick Durbin (43 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - Sheldon Whitehouse (44 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-07-28 - Arlen Specter (45 of 90) | ||||
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Senate Floor Debate
| 2009-07-20 - Mitch McConnell (46 of 90) | ||||
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Empathy Standard | |||
| 2009-07-30 - Lamar Alexander (47 of 90) | ||||
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Sotomayor rejected | |||
| 2009-08-03 - Tom Udall (48 of 90) | ||||
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2009-08-04 - Debate on Senate Floor
| 2009-08-04 - Jeff Sessions on Fox Cavout (49 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Mitch McConnell (50 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Jeff Sessions (51 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 Bob Menendez (52 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Sheldon Whitehouse (53a of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Sheldon Whitehouse (53b of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Orin Hatch (54 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - James Inhofe (55 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Sherrod Brown (56 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Charles Grassley (57 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-04 - Patrick Leahy (58 of 90) | ||||
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2009-08-05 - Debate on Senate Floor
| 2009-08-05 - Patrick Leahy (59 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - Amy Klobuchar (60 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - John Cornyn (61 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - Pat Roberts (62 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - Roger Wicker (63 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - Charles Schumer (64 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-05 - Jon Kyl (65 of 90) | ||||
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2009-08-06 - Debate on Senate Floor
| 2009-08-06 - Dick Durbin (66 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-06 - George Voinovich (67 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-06 - Barbara Boxer (68 of 90) | ||||
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She doesn't directly mention empathy, but says Sotomayor will bring new perspective and gives the example of the case of the13 year old girl that was strip searched in school. Male justices didn't have a problem with this, but Justice Ginsberg did. Boxer implies the males didn't empathize with the 13 year old girl and Sotomayor would. | |||
| 2009-08-06 - Charles Grassley (69 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-06 - Jeff Sessions (70 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-06 - Patrick Leahy (71 of 90) | ||||
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| 2009-08-06 - Mitch McConnell (72 of 90) | ||||
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Post Sotomayor
| Judge David Hamilton Nomination for Appeals Court - source? | ||||
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According to
Hamilton, "Empathy is the ability to understand the world from another person's point of view," "A judge needs to empathize with all parties in the case - plaintiff and defendant, crime victim and accused defendant - so that the judge can better understand how the parties came to be before the court and how legal rules affect those parties and others in similar situations." |
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| 2009-09-17 - Jeff Sessions on Judge Hamilton (73 of 90) | ||||
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Sessions gives his
usual attack on empathy. This time in relationship to the nomination of Judge Hamilton. |
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| 2009-09-29 - Jeff Sessions on Viken (74 of 90) | ||||
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Sessions gives his
usual attack on empathy. This time in relationship to the nomination of Judge Viken. |
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| 2009-10-27 - Jeff Sessions on Judge Irene Cornelia Berger - sort | ||||
| 2009-10-27 | ||||
| 2009-11-09 - Jeff Sessions on Judge Honeywell - sort | ||||
| Jeff Session | ||||
| 2009-11-12 - Jeff Sessions at 2009 Federalist Society | ||||
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Jeff Sessions,
Pt. 1 Jeff Sessions, Pt. 2 Jeff Sessions, Pt. 3 Jeff Sessions, Pt. 4 |
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| Ongoing | ||||
| ( ) | 2009-08-12 - Tribute to Phyllis Schlafly | |||
| A conservative says empathy is code word for spreading the wealth. | ||||
| 2009-10-02 - Justice Sotomayor and Supreme Court (75 of 90) (video @ c-span) | ||||
| - Lyle Denniston -
from Scotusblog - Michael Gerhard - - Dahlia Lithwick - rise and fall of Judicial empathy. - Charter Phillips - Dahlia and some others say the debate over empathy is over and will not be brought up again. She sees it as a failure. |
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| 2006-01-06 - Samuel Alito's Decisions Guided By Ethnicity, Empathy | ||||
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| 1991-07-01 - GOP Now and Then: George HW Bush Touted Clarence Thomas' "Great Empathy" | ||||
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Wolff Blitzer Notes video clip | |||
