In its editorial feature this week, BP editorial columnist Kelly Boggs laid out what he believes are disparities between the American Bar Association's [ABA] "Black Letter Guidelines for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance" and the criteria President Obama seems to value in Supreme Court Justices. The ABA guidelines, Boggs reported, originated in 1985 and were updated in 2005.
"The "Black Letter Guidelines" make no mention of an effective jurist needing to possess any specific emotive qualities," Boggs wrote. "And while the ABA's guidelines do not mention traits like empathy, caring or understanding, President Obama has made it clear these qualities will be paramount in his selection of jurists for the federal bench."
And, Boggs has a theory as to why Obama values the qualities of empathy, caring and understanding in his Supreme Court nominees:
"If the ABA doesn't bother to mention the emotive qualities of empathy and understanding in its "Black Letter Guidelines," why does President Obama deem them as so sacrosanct? Because he wants Supreme Court justices able to discover "penumbras formed by emanations" in the U.S. Constitution in order to impose a liberal social agenda on Americans."-"Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: Penumbras and emanations"
[For an interesting "TIME" article about "Emanations from a Penumbra," go here, Jack.]
As far as Boggs is concerned, "Feelings of empathy and understanding belong in love songs and romance novels, not in a court of law and certainly not in the Supreme Court."
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I remembered some details of this story, or at least its existance, when I read this at "Baptist Press." I don't know if I featured it in the past or not.
Officials in San Diego had issued a cease-and-desist order on a pastor and his wife while attempting to seek their compliance in applying for a permit which might have cost them thousands of dollars. What was interesting about it was, the order was issued because of a home Bible study the couple were hosting in their home. They were ordered to stop hosting the Bible study unless they applied for a permit.
June 5, BP reported San Diego officials have now apologized and rescinded the order:
"In a letter to the Joneses [the pastor and his wife] and Broyles [their attorney] June 3, the county's chief administrative officer said the order was wrongfully issued and the county would conduct a review of its code enforcement officer training."
According to the BP report, the issue was originally raised by a San Diego county official who, apparently, over-zealously sought to categorize the home Bible study as a "religious assembly."
"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly and in violation of the code in the county," David Jones, pastor of South Bay Community Church in National City, told Fox News." -"Baptist Press - Apology issued for S.D. Bible study threat"
You can read both of these "JackeHammer" featured articles at Baptist Press, and much more.
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