This is an interesting article in The New York Times on the comparison of the roles of umpires in baseball and the judges. In the context of upcoming confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, this makes a productive read.
Abstract: ““Judges are like umpires,” Judge Roberts declared in the opening remarks to his own confirmation hearings. “Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role.”
…the overlapping issues of a justice’s personal beliefs and judicial activism are almost certain to be raised this week, quite possibly by Senator Sessions, who now represents the minority party on the Judiciary Committee. Judge Sotomayor’s public statements about the kind of empathy she brings to the bench as a Latina have already elicited objections to what some view as an admitted bias. And that position was fanned by the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of the appellate court decision she joined that nullified the results of a firefighters’ exam in New Haven because a disproportionate number of minority candidates failed it.”
Link to the article: The Deciders: Umpires v. Judges
