JULIE HILDEN If Obama Has the Opportunity to Appoint Our Next New Supreme Court Justice, Is He Right that Empathy Should Be A Core Criterion? FindLaw columnist, attorney, and author Julie Hilden discusses Barack Obama's comments on what qualities he will seek if he has the opportunity to nominate Justices to the Supreme Court. Obama emphasized that he will select nominees with a strong sense of empathy, developed through life experience, and suggested that he will not limit his search to law professors and judges. Recently, Senate Republican Jon Kyl threatened to block Obama's nominees if their empathy played too strong a role, compared to their respect for Court precedent. Hilden argues that Obama's search for empathetic judges is legitimate, giving examples of decisions in which both conservative and liberal justices have exhibited empathy. However, she expresses skepticism about Obama's going beyond law professors and judges, and emphasizing other life experience, in selecting his nominees.