The Christian Science Monitor
Letters to the Editor

Regarding the Feb. 18 editorial, “Obama’s next test on bipartisanship”: The Monitor says that President Obama has “made clear that he wants courts to use the Constitution for social policy,” but Mr. Obama has said no such thing. What he has said is that he wants judges who have empathy, which means simply that judges should be able to understand the plight of individuals very different from themselves. That often seems required by the judicial role of providing “equal justice under law” not inconsistent with the judicial oath, as the Monitor asserts. By asserting with flimsy evidence that Obama wants judges who will disobey their oaths, the Monitor does just what it is warning against: directing anger towards judges and politicizing the judiciary.

Doug Kendall

President, Constitutional Accountability Center
Washington, D.C.