Scouring Obama’s Past for Clues on Judiciary

when Mr. Obama recently spoke about the coming vacancy, he did not retreat from his senatorial call for judges with not only intelligence and respect for the rule of law, but also “empathy.”

“I will seek someone who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book,” he said. “It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation.”

法律面前人人平等，还有同情弱者？举个例子，当一个穷人和富人同时被政府侵权的时候，赔偿标准时怎样的：因为穷人更穷，给更多；因为富人的机会成本更高，给更多？面对这个问题，我们首先要知道，美国的政治家持三种观点，一种是conservative，一种是liberal，一种是democratical，分别代表不同的选民。conservative的选民是足够有钱的，希望政府有限作为（特别是国防），法律上当然要求富人>=穷人；liberal代表的是普通有钱人，要政府越小越好（特别是不准干预经济），法律上要求富人=穷人；而democratical，工人阶级和穷人，希望政府有大作为，法律上也要求穷人>富人.还有一种终极版的，就是pragmatic，实用主义的，就是这三种观点都支持，不同情况支持不同观点。