Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings this week will be remembered as a civilized affair. The fiery exchanges and dramatic grandstanding that have characterized past confirmations were all but absent. Yet, tame as these were, Supreme Court confirmation hearings are always a critical barometer of power in the nation's capital: who's got it, who wants it, and who's losing it. We asked two of our experts—Howard Fineman and Stuart Taylor Jr.—to weigh in on the biggest winners and losers of the hearings.
Barack Obama: The president's first Supreme Court pick came early in his tenure, and, true to his trademark calm, he made a no-mess, no-fuss selection. "It has been inevitable since the day she was nominated that she will be confirmed by a fairly wide margin. In that sense, she and President Obama are winners," says Taylor. But Obama did take a few knocks in the hearings. Sotomayor rejected his purported judicial philosophy—the notion that judges should have empathy. She told the panel of senators that she doesn't approach judging the way the president does, and that judges can't rely on what is in their heart; they must apply the law. "This will make it harder for Obama to give the next nomination to an overt, full-throated liberal," Taylor says. Still, her hearings were smooth and her approval ratings high. Overall it was an easy win for the president. Verdict: Winner.
Lindsey Graham: The charismatic South Carolina senator's legal background was on full display as he took turns grilling and charming the nominee. Taylor thinks his comments were among the most perceptive. Unfortunately for Graham, it was his sillier moments that made the nightly news (and Jon Stewart's show), as on the first day, when he brazenly told Sotomayor she'd get confirmed unless she had "a complete meltdown." Fineman calls Graham "brilliant but erratic, seemingly kind but also duplicitous. Having said that only a meltdown could derail her, he tried to create one." Verdict: Loser.
The White House Briefing Team: That Sotomayor looked poised, calm, and prepared throughout long days of scrutiny is in part attributable to her excellent coaching. The White House team, including Biden adviser Ron Klain, White House counsel Greg Craig and newcomer Karen Dunn did an outstanding job schooling her. Fineman declares their preparations "airtight." He also praises the White House's spin team, which aggressively fed the press updates that rebutted every GOP attack within minutes. "They treated it like a presidential debate," Fineman says. The Republicans, on the other hand, were invisible. Verdict: Winners.
Liberal Legal Minds: Taylor says that liberal court watchers hoping to hear the nominee defend their philosophy of judging will be feeling sorely disappointed. "She sounded like Alito," he says of Sotomayor's comments about her approach to judging. "Instead of taking refuge in ambiguity and fuzzy generalities, she really sounded like a conservative in what she thinks judges should do. That is fairly consistent with her judicial record." Verdict: Losers.
Al Franken: Fineman and Taylor agree that the rookie senator acquitted himself admirably throughout the hearings. While fans and comics were hoping for an uproarious performance, Franken was serious, carefully prepared, yet still entertaining. "Earnest and deadpan funny," says Fineman. Taylor notes that Franken managed to score some points against Republican declarations that the word "abortion" is not in the Constitution. Franken held up a copy of the Constitution and, with Sotomayor's help, pointed out that the words "birth control" and "privacy" aren't in it either. Verdict: Winner.
Perry Mason: Sotomayor cited the fictional defense attorney as an early inspiration for her legal career. In one of the more lighthearted moments of the week, Franken observed, “It amazes me that you wanted to become a prosecutor based on the show, because in Perry Mason the prosecutor on that show lost every week.” There were a couple of cases Mason lost, but neither Franken nor Sotomayor could recall one (1963's “The Case of the Deadly Verdict” is the most famous). Why did Mason make our list? “Now everyone knows he actually lost a case,” says Fineman. Verdict: Loser.
Honorable Mentions: Fineman is pleasantly surprised by Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse: "Almost no one had ever heard him speak. Turns out he is an elegant and well-informed speaker and thinker." Taylor thinks chairman Patrick Leahy ran a "generally dignifed proceeding" in his first Supreme Court confirmation hearings as chair. On the Republican side, Taylor thinks "the once combative Orrin Hatch is getting so mellow that he may ripen and then rot," and that Jeff Sessions may have been a little too aggressive in questioning Sotomayor's truthfulness. "Remarkably, at least three committee Democrats—Charles Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, and Richard Durbin—complimented their Republican counterparts for questioning the nominee in a tough but fair way," Taylor says. "No senator came across as a fool or a bully, as best I could tell." And finally, props to Klobuchar, who's been representing Minnesota alone until recently. She won fans earlier this year with her hilarious speech at the Washington Press Club Foundation. She impressed again this week. According to Taylor, she "came across very well—smart, decent, nice."
Daniel Stone contributed reporting.
