"I think this is someone who will identify herself as a champion of minorities," said David J. Garrow, a Supreme Court historian. "But it's not going to be the return of Bill Brennan as a Latino. There's just no evidence for that."
Others take a longer view. "There's a huge difference between being a court of appeals judge who is bound by precedent" and a Supreme Court justice who can rewrite those precedents, said Erwin Chemerinsky, the law dean at UC Irvine.
Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet said that a justice's first years are not always a good indicator of what could be a 20-year career.
"She'll start out a cautious, moderately liberal justice," Tushnet said. "But my guess is that over time, she'll lose her focus on factual details and start seeing the court as a place where general principles -- 'policies,' as she put it -- are articulated. I suspect that as she observes the court's conservatives incrementally eating away at moderate liberal positions, she [will] become a more outspoken liberal."
The Senate hearings begin Monday morning, but senators will use up most of the day giving their opening statements. Sotomayor also will give an opening statement, but the questioning is not due to begin until Tuesday.
Leahy and the Democrats hope to confirm Sotomayor before the Senate leaves for its August recess so that she can be on the bench in early September, when the Supreme Court considers the fate of campaign finance laws.
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david.savage@latimes.com
joliphant@tribune.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
The lineup at the hearings
Five judiciary committee senators to watch
Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
All eyes will be on the Republican point man and new ranking member. A dyed-in-the-wool Southerner and conservative, he represents the sort of regionalism that has come to define his struggling party.
John Cornyn (R-Texas)
One might expect Cornyn, a former state attorney general, to take the lead in attacking Sotomayor. But Texas has a large Latino population, a group the GOP is trying to woo. He may have to step softly.
Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)
Can the committee chairman meet the White House's timetable and make sure the nomination reaches the Senate floor for a vote before the August recess -- or will he allow Republicans to stall?
Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)
The five-term senator is passionate about judicial nominations. Always independent and idiosyncratic, will the newly minted Democrat balk at voting lock-step with his party?
