The Sotomayor Follies

Well, the Sotomayor hearings are pushing into their third day, with a rather circus-like atmosphere granted by the presence of anti-abortion fanatic Randall Terry, who has commissioned protestors to disrupt the hearings. He is ordering these actions despite the fact that Sotomayor has remained mum about her abortion views.

Judge Sotomayor herself is trying to keep her hand of cards as close as possible. As an article on Yahoo News notes, she is revealing as little of her views as possible to ensure the easiest possible route towards confirmation.

My Gut Reaction: This is all much ado about nothing for several reasons, not the least of which being the fact that the idea of an impartial Supreme Court Justice is fiction.

Analysis: We all know it. Virtually all the Supreme Court justices appointed over at least the past twenty years have been partisans of one political position or another. Hell, it goes beyond contemporary times. Throughout American history, Supreme Court justices have held partisan positions of one form or another, for good or for bad.

I support Judge Sotomayor because her views correlate with my partisan positions. (And don't get huffy, conservatives, we all know you support Justices Scalia and Thomas because of their partisan positions.) The trick isn't getting a so-called impartial justice; it's getting someone whose views roughly correspond with yours.