Well this should at least temporarily kill the Intrade claim that it is predictive(albeit market volume was way too small to be any good)

Sotomayor opened up as the favorite at 35% and traded in a downward trend thoughtout the period of speculation. All the movement occured today. Unlike the clever fake Obama speech by Ken Thomas this report is given 95% certainty by a market 2 minutes after release(so it is predictive of truth already released!)

Dr. Lawler likes to say that supreme court judges aren't philosophers, but she is a member of the APS. She is I suppose the first hispanic female and first hispanic, but more interestingly she did intellectual property litigation. She is a Yankees fan which means she likes baseball and that she might be a number cruncher. She issued a preliminary injunction against MLB...

I think republicans and democrats alike should quiz her on intellectual property and contracts...questions about the auto-bailout, bankrupcy law, the Chrystler dealerships, Kelo, and the extent of the role of the federal reserve and treasury. Other such questions about Hamilton and executive perogative would be interesting. Maybe a question or two about Lyng.

New Republic Case against Sotomayor

This should put the topper on any remaining you should pardon the expression hope that Obama will be a uniter and not a divider. Soto is the most activist of all the people on the reported "short lists." She boasts of her judicial inventiveness. Poor Ben Nelson will have to hold his nose when he votes "Yea".

very clever appt. admirable story, very smart and all that, Hispanic, and extremely activist or "inventive" in approach.

Very inspiring story, first Hispanic woman (a "Latina" someone said), but who cares? The issue is how she will interpret the law and Constitution or whether she will legislate from the bench. Judge Thomas has a very inspiring story, but I don't hear liberals gushing over his legal decisions. Apparently she's Catholic - at least marginally or culturally - and has been praised by NOW so she's apparently firmly pro-choice.

Miguel Estrada had an admirable, inspiring story as well, didn't seem to help him. That being said it's too bad Obama is using Judge Sotomayor as a political pawn. The Republicans will inevitably use the filibuster tactic that the Democrats used during the Bush administration, which the Republicans denounced, and will be portrayed as obstructionists.

She is on the left, and plays identity/racial politics without regard to the Constitution, see Stuart Taylor in the National Journal.

Republicans are going to be tempted to go after her moronic and bigoted comment about latinas and white men or on issues of judicial temperment. Those are legitimate issues but I think bad politics in this situation. Their best bet is to focus issues where a judicial liberal is on the wrong side of both the Constitution and broad swaths of public opinion. I think I would focus more on issues related to late term abortion, the death penalty for child molesters and to a lesser extent the Second Amendment.