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Sotomayor a Shoo-In, WaPo's Broder Says, as Experts Debate Value of Hearings

By Martha Neil

July 15, 2009, 9:15 pm CDT

Updated: As careful in her judicial opinions as she has been in the confirmation hearings, Sonia Sotomayor has provided little drama to this week’s confirmation hearings for her historic elevation to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, writes David Broder in a Washington Post opinion column.

She is a virtual shoo-in, at this point, for confirmation, he writes, but this lull in the often-stormy partisan battles in the Senate that have preceeded earlier high court confirmations is likely only temporary. When President Barack Obama next names a replacement justice, the process could be far more fiery, he predicts.

“By making the best of their meager case against Sotomayor,” Broder writes, “the Republicans signaled Obama that they are ready to fight harder if he names to the bench other liberals less armored by their personal histories.”

Meanwhile, the Room for Debate blog of the New York Times invites legal observers to weigh in on whether confirmation hearings seemingly scripted for much public posturing and a wealth of photo opportunities are worthwhile.

“These hearings are almost devoid of substance, so the lessons are mainly negative,” says attorney and author Philip Howard. “The one useful conclusion is that Judge Sotomayor’s skill at parrying loaded questions demonstrates that she is as smart as her resumé suggests.”

But appellate litigator Tom Goldstein of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and SCOTUSblog tells the Times that the hearings strike a welcome note of civility. “Overall, I’m now slightly optimistic that we aren’t headed into a permanent death spiral between Democrats and Republicans,” he says, “with each party relentlessly attacking the other’s nominees and voting on party lines.”

Updated at 5:45 p.m. to include information from subsequent Room for Debate blog post.