By Dave Yost

A judge's black robe is a symbol of impartiality - a head-to-toe cloaking of the self, of all the human passions and weaknesses and individual characteristics that attend a person. Judge Sonia Sotomayor appears to believe that her heart belongs on the sleeve of that robe, and a thoughtful senator might conclude it makes her a poor judge.

Judge Sotomayor and the president who nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court have made it clear that her empathy and sympathy are among her qualifications for the bench. But those qualities have traditionally been frowned upon in a judge -- for the same reason that judges wear that black robe. It's not about the judge, it's about justice -- and both sides deserve to have the case heard on the merits.