Poll: And we’re off — Will Sonia Sotomayor have a tough hearing?

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is greeted by Senators Leahy and Sessions before the beginning of her confirmation hearing today (Alex Wong/Getty)

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s pick to be the ninth Supreme Court Justice, and the body’s first Latina justice, has taken her seat in the Senate Judiciary Committee room. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic Chairman of the committee, in introducing her, asked that no “distortions of her record” be carried out by the gathered senators. What can we expect through this hearing? And Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, is delivering a tough rebuttal, warning, “our system will only be further corrupted as a result of President Obama’s views that, in tough cases, the critical ingredient for a judge is the ‘depth and breadth of one’s empathy.’”

There are sure to be some interesting moments. The Senate Judiciary Committee has long been dominated by the binary star system of Senators Leahy and Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who recently became a Democrat. The two had a highly collegial relationship. That means Senator Sessions, a much more conservative ranking minority member, will be shepherding the Republican committee members through what could be a more organized and tough criticism of Judge Sotomayor’s views and credentials than otherwise might have occurred if Senator Specter remained on the other side of the aisle.

If you want some reactions to key moments in the hearing, check out out first slide soon. Already on Friday, we had a preview from Kate Klonick here at True/Slant who blogged about the affirmative action critics who will be called as witnesses in the course of the hearings. She’s certain to have more things to say today and throughout the week, as will many other of our contributors.

For some other reactions, the great SCOTUSBlog has trotted out its fancy live blogging widget. Glenn Thrush at Politico has a great rundown of what to expect. And I think Dahlia Lithwick at Slate offered a terrific preview of what you’ll really hear in the course of the hearings:

For those brave souls choosing to watch this spectacle on live television all week, it’s useful to point out that most of her interlocutors will not be addressing themselves to Judge Sotomayor at all, although they will frequently use her name. Instead, they will be talking aloud to their constituents back home, with Judge Sotomayor serving as a sort of constitutional blackboard on which to sketch out their legal views: Senators will talk at length about their pet projects and concerns, then turn to ask Judge Sotomayor what she thinks of their pet projects and concerns. She will say she is for them.

How do you think the hearing will go? Answer our poll and tell us in the comments.

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