I See You: Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. Writing with Empathy to Prove that the Human Person is Central to the Law

17 Pages Posted: 26 Aug 2020

See all articles by Julie A. Oseid

Julie A. Oseid

University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)

Date Written: 2020

Abstract

Long before he became a judge, Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. recognized and highlighted “the central place of the human person in any account of the law.” One of his intellectual legacies as a federal circuit court judge was recognizing the persons, not masks, who appeared before him. How did he do it? Empathy.

Judge Noonan’s capacity for empathy as a judge extended beyond his ability to step into the shoes of someone whose life was very different from his own—he was able to write about that person’s encounter with the law in a way that makes you, the reader, also relate to the person with empathy.

This article focuses on Judge Noonan’s opinions in three areas of law spanning three decades: civil rights, employment, and criminal law. Judge Noonan believed that you cannot love someone you cannot see. I will focus on how the details of his judicial writing—word choice, concision, and narrative techniques—furthered his philosophy of respecting the dignity of every human. He saw them. We do, too.

Keywords: empathy, Noonan, writing, judge, appellate

Suggested Citation

Oseid, Julie A., I See You: Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. Writing with Empathy to Prove that the Human Person is Central to the Law (2020). University of St. Thomas Law Journal, 2021 Forthcoming, U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3681041

Julie A. Oseid (Contact Author)

University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota) ( email )

MSL 400, 1000 La Salle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN Minnesota 55403-2005
United States

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