(Exodus 23:6) commands: "You shall not incline the judgment of your needy one in his quarrel." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is necessary when (Exodus 23:3) already says: "You shall not honor a poor man in his quarrel." Both seem to protect judicial impartiality regarding poor litigants.
The answer lies in a distinction between two categories of poverty. The "poor man" in verse 3 is someone who lacks means — a standard poor person. The "needy one" in verse 6 is something more specific: a person who was once wealthy but has fallen from his estate. He is now in dire need of almost everything — food, clothing, shelter — having lost a position of comfort and security.
From verse 3 alone, we would know only that ordinary poverty cannot bias a judge. But what about a person whose fall from wealth is dramatic and visible? The judge might feel extraordinary sympathy for a formerly prosperous person who is now destitute. The emotional pull might be even stronger than for someone who was always poor.
Verse 6 addresses this specific temptation. No matter how poignant the needy person's story — no matter how far he has fallen — the judge must not incline the verdict in his favor. Judicial impartiality applies to every gradation of poverty, from the chronically poor to the newly ruined. The Torah does not allow sympathy, however natural, to become a factor in legal judgment.