The Second Day of Judge Sonia Sotomoyer's Supreme Court Nomination Hearings

This writer missed the second day of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the judicial committee of the United States Senate. Wow! That's a sentence and a mouthful. It sounds so impressive and so intimidating at the same time doesn't it? But who was more impressive yesterday, Sotomayor or the senators doing the questioning or should I say grilling?

From what I read in my news sources today and from what I gleamed from watching CNN coverage last night, it appears that Sotomayor held her own against aggressive questioning or posturing by the Republican opposition. She appeared slightly flustered in one shot that I saw, where Senator Lindsay Graham pointedly accused her of being temperamental and a bully when overseeing court cases. Even I gasped at his remark, and I usually chuckle at the mud slinging that passes as Senate questioning on either side of the aisle.

I couldn't help wondering if a man sitting in her seat would have been accused of being a bully because he was a tough questioner during court cases. Could Lindsay Graham be harboring a slight prejudice against tough women..like Sotomayor? Could Lindsay Graham and some of his Republican cohorts have a slight prejudice that perhaps they're not even aware of against a strong powerful woman who will, if confirmed, hold more power in this country than he could ever dream of. A lifetime of power if that is what she chooses.

And that is obviously the core of this confirmation controversy. Supreme Court justices who live long and prosper do have the potential to effect every aspect of American life. Their rulings can change the course of society and have. Some of those course changes have resulted in weird decisions like Prohibition! And some of them have resulted in magnificient changes like banning racial discrimination. But some of them of their rulings have left Americans confused and divided, like Roe vs. Wade.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands poised to become one of the few men and women to ever serve on the Supreme Court, 110 to be exact. Thousands of senators have come and gone..and yet only 110 people have ever served on the Supreme Court. What type of justice will Ms. Sotomayor be? There is no way to successfully predict that and that is the quandary that Republicans find themselves in, and even Democrats.

Appointed for life, these men and women have not always followed the pattern they were predicted to follow in forming their opinions and making their rulings. Again, I reiterate, Ms. Sotomayor seems amply qualified, despite whatever her personal opinions on any subject are, and she will be confirmed and she will be seated on the highest court in our land. And then we will see, if it makes any difference at all and when it will.

I know this, it will offer balance to a court heavily weighted to the conservative viewpoint and so I, with many other liberal progressive thinkers, breathe a sigh of relief that we are one step closer to regaining a more liberal focus on the court.