No. 3 Republican Throws Support to Sotomayor

Senator unable to support a 'judicial activist'

(AP) - John McCain says he'll oppose Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor when the Senate votes on her confirmation this week. Despite Sotomayor's efforts to distance herself from her record, the Arizona Republican said today, Sotomayor is a judicial activist who has used her position as a judge to try to change the law. More»

Judiciary committee members share spotlight with nominee

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation looks likely, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some drama between here and there. Politico runs down which senators have the most to win—and the most to lose:

• Patrick Leahy: Facing his first nominee as judiciary chairman, Leahy’s eager to get Sotomayor through ASAP, but risks Republican wrath if he rushes.

Obama too timid on federal nominees, with big issues coming

(NEWSER) - With big issues working their way toward the Supreme Court on such vital issues as health care reform, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and police stops of undocumented immigrants, liberals need to be on guard, writes longtime court-watcher Emily Bazelon for the New York Times . Sure, there are solid progressives, such as Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But frequent swing vote Anthony Kennedy, while he may side with liberals on occasion, has a voting record on par with Ronald Reagan. More»

'Passionate' Sotomayor, bridge-building Kagan aren't shy during oral arguments

(NEWSER) - It's a bit like Mean Girls: Supreme Court Edition: After decades of the conservative tongue-lashings of Antonin Scalia dominating oral arguments as liberal justices sat on their hands, new kids Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are unabashedly adding their voices to the melee. "Slow down from the rhetoric," Sotomayor told a conservative lawyer before the court; she then launched into what the LA Times calls a "withering discussion" of the case at hand. More»

Liberal stalwart, at age 89, admits, 'I'm not exactly a kid'

(NEWSER) - John Paul Stevens, the senior justice on the Supreme Court and the bench's liberal lion, says he gave serious thought to retiring—in the late 1980s, when he was 65 years old. Instead, while younger colleagues have packed their bags, Stevens has become the court's master tactician, cobbling together narrow majorities for decisions on civil rights, the death penalty, and Guantanamo Bay. Now approaching 90, Stevens suggests to USA Today that he's ready to leave: "That can't be news. I'm not exactly a kid." More»