Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., sparred with Sonia Sotomayor this morning over her ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano. Democrats have continually said that Sotomayor was applying precedent in this case, so the Supreme Court's reversal shouldn't be a point against her. Kyl isn't so sure, though.

"Isn't it true that the result of your decision was to grant summary judgment against these parties, and secondly, that there was no Supreme Court precedent that required that result?" Kyl asked. "I don't know what the precedent would be in the 2nd Circuit."

After he pressed Sotomayor again and again to name a specific case, she finally repeated the precedent she has cited to senators in previous questions this week: the 2nd Circuit decision in Bushey v. New York State Civil Service.

In one sense, Kyl's questions today echoed his questions on Tuesday, when he chose to spend nearly a third of his time asking her whether or not as a Supreme Court justice she would recuse herself from the Second Amendment case Maloney v. Cuomo. Both times, Kyl focused on highly controversial rulings by Sotomayor but chose to delve into the legalistic aspects of those cases instead of their more contentious political aspects.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who followed Kyl, opened by defending Sotomayor. She emphasized that the high court's reversal in Ricci was a 5-4 vote, to illustrate the idea that the merits of the case were not as clear-cut as Republicans have portrayed it.