Rational thinking vs emotions

Sonia Sotomayor's nomination has put the question front and center: do judges make their decisions solely on the basis of the law and reason, or are their decisions influenced by who they are, what their life experiences have been, and what group identities they belong to?

Of course, in the heat of this Supreme Court nomination, Republicans are challenging the idea that one's feelings enter into decisions at all, along with the idea that the court needs balance based on gender, ethnicity, and other background issues.

I take the position that decisions are far more influenced by emotions and by life experiences than most people realize; and now we have brain-imaging research that shows this to be true.

This is probably no more true in any issue than ones on equal treatment for same-sex behavior. And this makes me wonder why Ted Olson is taking a high profile case that seems unlikely for the conservative lawyer that he is. I'm not suggesting that he is a closeted gay man; there's nothing I know to suggest that. But being gay oneself is not the only way one's empathy may be formed to see issues differently.

In 1992, I was asked to form a new committee on gay/lesbian issues in the American Psychoanalytic Association. The trouble in forming such a committee was that, with one exception, we did not have openly gay members (because of prior discrimination) who could be asked to be on the committee. Nevertheless, several respected members of the Association volunteered and served as members. I found out later that some of those who did were moved to volunteer because they had a gay family member or a good friend or respected colleague.

Knowing a gay or lesbian person as an individual changes one's impression of the stereotype. I'd be willing to bet that Anthony Kennedy and Ted Olson each has a gay family member or a close friend or law clerk, who has helped him see the injustice of discrimination on the basis of whom one loves.

Ralph