Obama kicked an ant hill when he stated that he wanted to appoint someone to the Supreme Court who had "empathy." Critics have wondered what he meant by that, and whether empathy is a proper quality for a justice on the court. Stanley Fish weighs in and takes us into the philosophic issues associated with what law is exactly.
He offers us this little tidbit:
You might think that “legal” and “just” go together, and sometimes they do; but in the real world “just” and “legal” can come apart. A decision is just when it reflects an overarching vision of what is owed is to each man and woman. A decision is legal when it can be said to follow from established rules, statutes, precedents.
So . . . do courts do justice or not?
