• "Republicans scouring Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's affiliation with a Latino advocacy group contend that documents released Wednesday show she played an active role in an organization they consider radical," CQ reports.
• "The 350-plus pages of material offer little evidence about Sotomayor's role in the cases and causes the organization, now known as LatinoJustice PRLDEF, took up while she served on its board from 1980 until 1992," AP reports.
• "Sotomayor has concluded all her requested meetings with senators so far, according to the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee," NationalJournal.com reports.
• Sotomayor "has recused herself at least 141 times since becoming a judge in 1992," the New York Times reports. "In many of those cases, she has told Senate investigators, her withdrawals were prompted by simple reasons: one of the lawyers was a friend; a former law clerk was involved; or she had represented a party in private practice. Only once, in a case from 1997, did her explanation say, 'I had personal knowledge regarding the claims.' The information the judge gave to the Senate offered no clue as to what that knowledge might have been."
• AP reports on the benefits Democrats may see with incoming Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, "even though Franken has not said outright that he will support Sotomayor."
• "The US public may attend hearings on" Sotomayor's confirmation -- "but not with weapons or clothing bearing profanity, the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday," Agence-France Presse reports.
• "Heather Dawn Thompson, president of the National Native American Bar Association, said that while the association cannot officially endorse" Sotomayor, it is "strongly supportive of her," Indian Country Today reports.
Commentary
• Michael Barone writes that Sotomayor's ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano shows that she is "typical of liberal elites who are ready to ratify squalid political deals -- and blatant racial discrimination -- in return for... political support."
• "Republicans have nothing significant to gain by making the hearing a media event, so they won't," maintains Tom Goldstein, Supreme Court litigator at Akin Gump and SCOTUSblog founder. "For her part, Judge Sotomayor is likely to adhere to the modern tradition of saying as little as necessary. The result is a conspiracy of convenience in which not much is likely to happen."
• David Broder argues that "as Obama has the opportunity over time to reshape the Supreme Court, there will be more Sotomayors -- and more of a challenge to those who wish to dispute the continuing damage that segregation has done to this country and the continuing need for race-conscious remedies."
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