Another damned empathetic minority judge...

This judge was introduced by the president upon making his nomination as a "warm, intelligent person who has great empathy." In his confirmation hearing, he spoke eloquently of his own upbringing in terrible poverty and how this would give him a perspective that other judges would not have because of their privileged lives. In response to one question he said:

And I believe, Senator, that I can make a contribution, that I can bring something different to the Court, that I can walk in the shoes of the people who are affected by what the Court does. You know, on my current court I have occasion to look out the window that faces C Street, and there are converted buses that bring in the criminal defendants to our criminal justice system, bus load after bus load. And you look out and you say to yourself, and I say to myself almost every day, "But for the grace of God there go I."

So you feel that you have the same fate, or could have, as those individuals. So I can walk in their shoes and I could bring something different to the Court. And I think it is a tremendous responsibility and it's a humbling responsibility and it's one that if confirmed, I will carry out to the best of may abilities.

The name of this justice, as I'm sure you've figured out by now: Justice Clarence Thomas.

(Hat tip Dispatches from the Culture Wars)