Sen. Jeff Sessions really had Judge Sotomayor "rocked back on her
heels," according to a Fox News analyst (I think it was Chris
Wallace). His performance was magnificent. But while she has been
VERY unimpressive throughout, the other GOP senators have utterly
failed to make their points or issue their questions in concise,
memorable, understandable ways. I missed Orrin Hatch, but heard
that his performance was only so-so. Sen. Grassley, bless his
heart, did not adequately explain her awful property rights
decision in Didden v. Port Chester and let her get away with the
dodge that it was just a statute of limitations claim. Sen. Kyl
started okay but then took WAY WAY WAY too long to get to his
point, and lost his advantage. Lindsey Graham sort of rambled,
perhaps setting himself up like a good lawyer for a later strong
case, but so far he hasn't closed the deal on any of the issues
he raised.
And nobody has yet brought up (unless I missed it) the sleeper
case of all sleepers, the one where she ruled that currently
incarcerated murderers and rapists might have a constitutional
right to vote.
In short, I think only Sessions has fully done his homework. Kyl
might have, too, but he didn't practice enough at getting his
questions and statements concise. And Graham -- well, you never
know what he's gonna do. He's plenty smart, but he's so darn
squirrelly.
All in all, a disappointment, even though I think she has not
helped her own case one bit today, and probably has hurt it,
mostly based on Sessions' bravura performance.
