Would Empathy by any other name smell as sweet?

PowerLine has a go at the answer.

Dressing up left-liberal jurisprudence once again

by Paul Mirengoff

A year ago, in connection with his decision to choose a successor to Justice Souter, President Obama said that the quality of "empathy" was important in a Supreme Court Justice. The notion that one should decide cases based on empathy, rather than the dictates of the law, must not have polled well because, as the Washington Post reports, this time around "reporters could not bait White House press secretary Robert Gibbs into even saying the word."

So what is the White House saying? According to the Post, Obama now says he wants a justice with a keen understanding of how the law affects the lives of "ordinary citizens." Thus, says the Post in its front-page blurb, the search is on for someone who, like Justice Stevens, can relate to ordinary citizens.

The Post's story raises several questions. First, what is the difference between an empathetic justice and one who is sensitive to how the law affects people's lives? Stated differently, why does Team Obama believe that, having been unimpressed by empathy as a judicial quality, the public will rally around the same concept described in other words?

Actually, it does sound better to me. Have they been reading Frank Luntz? Read it all here.