A Nation of Laws, or a Nation of Courts?

President Obama makes much hay out of the idea that he is restoring us to a "Nation of Laws" at least in regards to how we treat those who are trying to kill us. All well and good of course, but apparently, that is the only place that laws would apply. If law gets in the way of a greater public good, well, we'll just get a judge to get around that problem.
Consider his declaration of who he is looking for to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court. He

wants “someone who understands justice is not just about some abstract legal theory,” he said, but someone who has “empathy.”

In other words, judges should decide cases not on the legal merits, but on the desired outcome. Kind of makes you wonder why we should even have any legislative bodies to pass laws doesn't it?
But as with so much of the Obama administration, they see an immediate and precise solution to a problem, but don't look for the unintended consequences. As Michael Barone notes in this piece,

who is going to buy bonds from unionized companies if the government is going to take their money away and give it to the union? We have just seen an episode of Gangster Government. It is likely to be part of a continuing series.

Following it out to its logical conclusion, our entire governmental apparatus is going to be turned over to our wise jurists who will only use their enormous power for good, at least as they see it. Forum shopping just became a lot more attractive. Add in that if you are a private investor looking for a safe but low yield return for your retirement, are you going to invest in anything that the government will now say is not in the greater good? But in the auto case, by trying to reward the unions for all of their good and dutiful service in getting him elected, he may have just sown the seeds of their own destruction.