Big guns, no smoking

Talk about a lack of juicy stuff.

The National Archives, along with the presidential libraries of Clinton and the first President Bush, released a mountain of documents about Sotomayor -- more than 5,000 pages.

And, any Supreme Court enthusiast can see them online.

But a smoking gun, there is not.

In fact, there's not much in the new pile that isn't available elsewhere. Many documents were withheld from the public in this release because they contain personal information or insights into administration deliberations that are protected under the Presidential Records Act.

In November 1991, Republican George H.W. Bush nominated Sotomayor to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York. In 1997, Democrat Clinton nominated her for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The new collection has biographical information, court opinions, letters in support of her previous nominations, news clippings, speeches she's given over the years and routine e-mails between Clinton White House staffers. Only a few pages come from the Bush years.

-Cal Woodward, AP reporter, Washington

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Meet and greet – but incomplete

Sun Jul 12, 2:41 pm ET

Sotomayor had "before and after" meetings with 89 members of the 100-member Senate. Before June 8, she was walking from one office to another. Starting June 8, she was hobbling around on a broken ankle after an airport stumble.

Why didn't she meet with all senators? Some said they were voting against her, so why bother?

-Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress

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A call from the big kahuna

Sun Jul 12, 2:38 pm ET

It was a pep talk of the presidential kind.

Just back from an overseas trip, President Barack Obama called his Supreme Court nominee from the Oval Office on Sunday to wish her good luck on the eve of her multi-day Senate confirmation hearing.

The White House says the chief executive complimented the judge for making courtesy calls to 89 senators and made a prediction, telling her he was confident she would be confirmed.

No word on what Sotomayor said in return. But we're betting she thanked him again for the opportunity to serve. It's standard fare for most presidential nominees.

-Liz Sidoti, AP reporter, politics

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Staging the show

Sun Jul 12, 2:30 pm ET

The political theater won't unfold in the traditional Senate Judiciary room.

Too small, too cramped.

Instead, the drama will take place in the spacious Hart Senate Office building room where the last two confirmation hearings for John Roberts and Samuel Alito occurred.

But it wasn't proceedings that made the building famous. The structure arguably is best known for being evacuated in 2001 because of anthrax powder sent through the mail.

The Judiciary Committee moved to the Hart building, which is larger, just after it opened Roberts' hearing in the Caucus Room in the Russell Senate office building. That room was the site of hearings on the sinking of the Titanic, the Watergate scandal, and Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination.

-Jesse J. Holland, AP reporter, Supreme Court

Hart Senate Office building

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsavais)

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What to expect: tons of talk

Sun Jul 12, 2:30 pm ET

Imagine sitting in a classroom and being forced to listen to more than 19 different professors each give you different lectures back to back to back.

To back.

That's what Sonia Sotomayor will have to endure during the first day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Senate Judiciary Committee members will give opening statements on Monday, and Sotomayor must sit at a table before the panel and listen to each member of the committee talk -- and talk and talk -- before she gets to get a word in edgewise.

Oh, they'll let her introduce her family and a couple of senators -- most likely her home state New York champions, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will extol her virtues to the committee. But mostly, Sotomayor will sit alone at a table, watching members of the Senate Judiciary Committee talk to her and at her – not with her.

-Jesse J. Holland, AP reporter, Supreme Court

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In the hearing room: Ask the experts

Sun Jul 12, 2:00 pm ET

Don't forget! AP reporters will be stationed in the Senate room where Sotomayor's confirmation hearing will take place this week. They’ll be blogging right back to this space. Have a question for them? Send it to us on Twitter @AP_Courtside.

In the meantime, they answered this one: What one key thing don't you know about Sotomayor that you hope to learn during the hearing?

Laurie Kellman: "Does she in fact hope that a wise Latina would make a better decision?"

Jesse J. Holland: "Sotomayor's rumored to have a temper, so will any of the Republicans' jibs get to her or can she really hold her tongue?"

Larry Margasak: "How well she'll handle the pressure. Will her personality come out, will she be loose and even joke a few times, or will she be tight as a drum?"

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Watch and learn -- Supreme Court TV

Sun Jul 12, 1:50 pm ET

Who is Sonia Sotomayor? What are the names of Supreme Court justices? The AP asked those questions on the streets of New York and Washington -- and the answers captured in video are, well, classic.

More must-see video: Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., sat down with AP to talk about Sotomayor's confirmation hearing this week. And if you want to know how Sotomayor has been preparing for her time in the spotlight, AP Supreme Court reporter Jesse J. Holland explains the "murder board." (About as scary as it sounds.)

Find the videos here.

And keep coming back. Stay tuned for more!

-Liz Sidoti, AP reporter, Politics

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Blast from the past: Cheney back in the news

Sun Jul 12, 1:09 pm ET

Sunday was supposed to be the curtain raiser for Sonia Sotomayor and her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Instead, Dick Cheney stole the show.

On the eve of her Senate debut, the TV talk shows were dominated by reports that the former vice president directed the CIA eight years ago to keep Congress in the dark about the spy agency's counterterrorism program.

So rather than giving Washington -- and the rest of the country -- a concentrated dose of Sotomayor's professional and personal profile (John McCain called her "a great American success story" on NBC's "Meet the Press"), the Sunday circuit coughed up chunks of Cheney:

-- Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said Congress should investigate whether Cheney and others in the Bush administration ordered the CIA to conceal the program.

-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the Bush administration may have broken the law.

-- Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, suggested that the criticism is designed to give political cover to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is under GOP attack for claiming she wasn't briefed about Bush-era intelligence.

-Ron Fournier, AP Washington bureau chief

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SAY WHAT? A glossary guide, Take Two

Sun Jul 12, 12:40 pm ET

Here's another primer for you on phrases you're likely to hear senators utter this week during the Sotomayor hearing.

STRICT CONSTRUCTIONIST: A judge who reads the Constitution "almost as a Bible and can somehow find out what the founders wanted on the major issues of the day," says Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian. The changes in society that have taken place over the past 200-plus years? Irrelevant. Conservatives take this as a compliment.

ORIGINALIST: Similar to constructionist. A judge who believes the Constitution means the same thing today as it did when it was drafted in the summer of 1787, making no allowance for societal changes. They believe the Constitution's meaning can only be changed by amendment. "Our manner of interpreting the Constitution is to begin with the text and to give that text the meaning that it bore when it was adopted by the people," Justice Antonin Scalia once said.

LIVING CONSTITUTION: Reflects the idea that the world has changed since the founding of this country. Therefore, while the Constitution provides a good framework for decision-making, legal decisions have to adjust to modern realities. Originalists don't buy this; activist judges do.

-Nancy Benac, AP reporter, White House

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Missed opportunity?

Sun Jul 12, 12:31 pm ET

Republicans might have been able to lay claim to the first Hispanic justice, if Senate Democrats hadn't blocked his way.

In 2001, Republican President George W. Bush tried to place Washington attorney Miguel Estrada on the federal appeals court in Washington. It has long been a proving ground for Supreme Court justices, including four current members of the court.

Estrada, a Honduran immigrant who graduated from Harvard Law School, "could have been the first Hispanic justice," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Sunday – if, that is, Democrats hadn't blocked his confirmation to the appeals court.

Back then, the Senate was closely divided and Democrats prevented Estrada's nomination from coming to a vote on the Senate floor seven times over two years. Estrada eventually withdrew his nomination. 

Now President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has nominated Sonia Sotomayor, who has Puerto Rican roots. And even Republicans say her confirmation is all but assured.

-Mark Sherman, AP reporter, Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court name game: Blind to justices

Sun Jul 12, 12:25 pm ET

Quick! Name a Supreme Court justice.

Can't? You're not alone.

Americans know the names of Hollywood celebrities and sports stars. But many draw a blank when it comes to Supreme Court justices.
 
Check out this video if you’re in doubt.

And there's this new C-SPAN poll.

It shows that more than half of Americans can't name any Supreme Court justice.

Is President Barack Obama's nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, any more well known? Not so much. More than half -- 57 percent -- couldn't name the person nominated by the president to serve on the Supreme Court. Still, most people did know that she would be the first Hispanic on the court.

-Christine Simmons, AP reporter, Washington

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A family affair: They'll be right behind her

Sun Jul 12, 12:15 pm ET

Who can we expect to offer silent support by sitting behind Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the hearing room this week?

Sotomayor's 82-year-old mother, Celina Sotomayor, and the matriarch's husband, Omar Lopez, plan to be there. Also certain to be on hand: Sotomayor's brother, Juan; her sister-in-law, Tracey; her niece, Kiley; and her twin nephews, Conner and Corey Sotomayor.

After President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor, her doctor brother told ABC that his sister was "tough as nails." Even so, the family's turning out to lend support.

-Philip Elliott, AP reporter, White House; Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress

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NBC's 'Meet the Press': McCain calls Sotomayor 'a great American success story'

Sun Jul 12, 11:50 am ET

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he believes Sotomayor will be approved by a large margin, possibly by more than the 78 votes that Chief Justice John Roberts received.
 
Asked whether he supports Sotomayor, Sen. John McCain said: "I'd just like to see the hearings starting on Monday." The Arizona Republican and former presidential candidate called the nominee "a great American success story."

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'Fox News Sunday': Cornyn and 'judicial philosophy'

Sun Jul 12, 11:45 am ET

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, acknowledged that Republicans won't block Sotomayor's confirmation as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice. But he said: "we're going to talk about her judicial philosophy."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she never discloses before a vote whether she'll give a nominee a thumbs up or a thumbs down. But she said this case is different: "I take enormous pride as a woman in voting for her. I find her amazing."

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ABC's 'This Week': Kyl vows to be 'thorough'

Sun Jul 12, 11:45 am ET

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., outlined the GOP strategy: "To be as thorough as possible" in questioning Sotomayor.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., praised Sotomayor as a "moderate jurist" who has "done an exceptional job."

 

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CBS' 'Face the Nation': Committee chair hopes for no 'partisan fight'

Sun Jul 12, 11:45 am ET

Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: "I suspect she will be confirmed but I would hope it does not turn into a partisan fight for the good of the courts and for the good of the Supreme Court."
 
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.: "I am really flabbergasted by the depth and consistency of her philosophical critique of the idea of impartial justice."

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Just ahead: Sunday morning talk show chatter

Sun Jul 12, 11:35 am ET

Call it the pre-game warm up.

Democratic defenders of President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee and Republican critics of Sonya Sotomayor made the rounds on the Sunday morning news talk shows. The programs are heavily watched by Washington insiders, including political operatives, journalists and lawmakers. These are the people who will shape the "narrative" ahead of Sotomayor's multi-day confirmation hearing that starts Monday in the Senate.

The goal for both sides: repeat their talking points enough so that the arguments make it into the media's storyline for the hearing.

Predictably, White House-dispatched Sotomayor supporters praised her qualifications while GOP senators raised questions about whether she will inject bias into her rulings.

Both sides previewed arguments you're likely to hear next week. Repeatedly. To the point where your eyes may glaze over.

Democrats expressed confidence Sotomayor will be confirmed, and even Republicans suggested the nomination wouldn't fail. But GOP senators also made clear they would ask tough questions.

Stay tuned for a look at what some of them said.

Also: Did you tune into any of the shows? Want to chat about it? Write to us with your thoughts on Twitter at @AP_Courtside.

-Liz Sidoti, AP reporter, Politics

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The confirmation hearing by the numbers

Sat Jul 11, 11:00 pm ET

Senate Judiciary Committee members: 19

Committee Democrats: 12

Committee Republicans: 7

Committee members with law degrees: 13

Witnesses Republicans intend to call: 14

Witnesses Democrats intend to call: 15

Votes needed to send Sotomayor's nomination to the full Senate: 10

Senate Democrats: 58

Senate Republicans: 40

Senate independents, though they both lean Democratic: 2

Votes needed to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote on Sotomayor's nomination: 60

Chance Sotomayor's nomination fails: None, say Democrats. Slim to none, say Republicans.

Any interesting numbers that we missed? Send your suggestions to us @AP_Courtside on Twitter and we'll post them here.

-Natasha Metzler, AP reporter, Washington

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Live Chat with AP's Ron Fournier on Twitter

Sat Jul 11, 10:45 pm ET

Tomorrow (July 12, 2009) at 9 a.m. EDT, AP's Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier will be taking over our @AP_Courtside Twitter account. He'll be tweeting thoughts and analysis from the Sunday morning news shows and talking to you about the #Sotomayor confirmation hearing.

Have a question? Send it to @AP_Courtside and be sure to include the hashtag #rftalk in your tweet.

We're looking forward to hearing from you.

-Lauren McCullough, AP social networks and special projects producer

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@Sotomayor hearing to feature new technology for #media and #SupremeCourt and #Senators (please RT)

Sat Jul 11, 10:40 pm ET

Twitter was just a twinkle in someone's eye during the last Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

The year was 2006 and the month was January when the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Justice Samuel Alito. That March, Twitter was born.

Now, tweets from major news organizations, including The Associated Press, will flow out of the hearing room with journalists providing a play-by-play account of the proceedings. Some of the senators themselves could even tweet from the hearing room. Some judiciary members' Twitter accounts: SENARLENSPECTER, OrrinHatch, SenatorSessions, russfeingold, TomCoburn, GrahamBlog, JohnCornyn, ChuckGrassley.

These brief messages -- 140 characters or less -- will flood the cell phones and computers of Twitter subscribers. Follow @AP_Courtside on Twitter.

Compared with the last hearing, also expect much more coverage next week from Spanish-speaking press.

If confirmed Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic justice, and Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the population, are closely monitoring her confirmation process.

-Ann Sanner, AP reporter, Washington

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Texans talk about the Sotomayor confirmation

Sat Jul 11, 10:00 pm ET

San Antonio Express-News columnist Victor Landa writes about the firsts that are associated with Sotomayor's nomination.

The Dallas Morning News editorializes about key topics that senators should question Sotomayor about.

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THEY SAID IT, Take One: Senators talk Sotomayor

Sat Jul 11, 6:00 pm ET

"She'll be confirmed," predicted Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on July 2.

"She comes across as somebody with a very strong personality who has a very clear sense of who she is and what she stands for," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., after a private meeting with the nominee in June.

(AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

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Guess who nominated Sotomayor to the federal bench?

Sat Jul 11, 5:45 pm ET

Sotomayor's nomination hearing certainly will take on a partisan tone.

So it may surprise you to learn that she was nominated to the U.S. District Court by none other than President George H.W. Bush.

As in, a Republican.

Wonder what the 41st president thinks of her now?

Bush 41 recently told CNN: "She should be given a fair hearing. She should be accorded every courtesy that goes with her record as a judge and her aspirations to be a Supreme Court justice. And I have a feeling she will be confirmed. But again, I don't go into that day in and day out ..."

"I think she's had a distinguished record on the bench."

-Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress

(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Senate action, empty court

Sat Jul 11, 5:20 pm ET

Don't expect to see any Supreme Court justices wandering Capitol Hill -- or even the Supreme Court itself -- during Sonia Sotomayor's time in the spotlight.

The court's on summer vacation, with most of the justices out and about -- and likely far from Washington.

They issued their last opinions on June 29 and won't return until Sept. 9, when the court will hear special supplemental arguments on the Citizens United v. FEC case.

That's the one where a conservative group is challenging federal judges' ruling that a critical documentary about Hillary Rodham Clinton shown during presidential primary season should have been regulated like a campaign ad. If Democrats have their way, Sotomayor will be confirmed and ready to sit on the high court by that date.

The court officially goes back to work full-time on Oct. 5. That's the first Monday in October, their traditional start date.

- Jesse J. Holland, AP reporter, Supreme Court 

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Sotomay-har-har-har

Sat Jul 11, 5:00 pm ET

So far, Sotomayor hasn't tickled late night comedians' funny bones much, aside from when she broke her ankle. That hasn't stopped them from using her as a punchline to make fun of Rush Limbaugh, Clarence Thomas, Joe Biden, U.S. senators and the media.

Here's a sampling:

Jimmy Fallon: "On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh called Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a 'reverse racist.' I got to hand it to Limbaugh. That guy is a reverse genius."

Jay Leno: "And during her confirmation hearings, Judge Sotomayor is going to get tough questions from the senators. But I think she'll be fine. I mean, this is a woman who spent her whole life in the courtroom, so she's used to being around criminals."

Stephen Colbert demanded to be admitted to the all-women group from which Sotomayor recently resigned, Belizean Grove. He said: "Some out there have questioned Sotomayor's membership, specifically the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary committee, who have their own single-sex club called the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary committee."

And then, there was Conan O'Brien. "When he introduced Sotomayor, I thought President Obama was extremely gracious. Vice President Biden, however, did not handle the event, as well. Take a look."

Obama (in video): "I'd like all of you to give a warm greeting as I invite Judge Sotomayor to say a few words. Congratulations."

Biden (dubbed): "I really like chimichangas. And quesadillas. And tacos. Do you have swine flu?"

Heard any other funny Sotomayor jokes? Share them on Twitter, and we'll share our favorites -- @AP_Courtside.

-Lisa Tolin, AP lifestyles editor, New York

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Tongue-tied

Sat Jul 11, 4:20 pm ET

What's in a name?

Or rather, if you're Sonia Sotomayor, what's in the pronunciation of a surname?

President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, who would be the first Hispanic justice on the high court if confirmed, has watched everyone from senators to pundits to journalists try to verbalize -- and inadvertently butcher -- her family's name.

All of them at one point or another have put the accent on the first syllable (SOH'-tuh-my-er), or come up with some other mangled variation.

They're all wrong.

Here's setting the record straight.

She pronounces her surname like this: soh-toh-my-YOR'. That's an accent, there, on the final syllable.

Sotomayor -- say it out loud, now: soh-toh-my-YOR' -- describes herself as a Nuyorican, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent. It's a bit hard to tell that she was born in the Bronx when she says her name; she pronounces it with Spanish-language intonation, with a half-trill on the "r" at the end of her last name.

Here's David Letterman's take.

So the question is: Just how many senators on the Judiciary Committee will mispronounce it during her confirmation hearing? We're betting more than one.

-Liz Sidoti, AP reporter, Politics

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Hearing prelude will slow down the action

Sat Jul 11, 3:45 pm ET

The Great Sonia Sotomayor show, ballyhooed for months, will open late.

Well, it'll commence promptly at 10 a.m. or thereabouts Monday, but the star player won't say much for a while.

Why?

Because in the grand traditions of the U.S. Senate, her hosts will run the clock -- if not warm up the audience -- with a litany of opening remarks.

What self-respecting senator could actually sit silently before the glaring lights, the forest of microphones and cameras tilted to the ready? Which senator can pass up the moment as the nominee quakes in her seat while millions around the world watch?

Some have gone down in this setting. Ask Robert Bork. Clarence Thomas survived -- barely. But the rich ways of the "world's most deliberative body" have always persevered, and that won't change on Monday. Or in the ensuing days.

In this case, the prelude competes with the story.

-Merrill Hartson, AP veteran news editor and reporter, Washington

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Right in my backyard

Sat Jul 11, 3:30 pm ET

All Supreme Court cases are local.

Perhaps no community in the country will be more tuned in to the Sotomayor confirmation hearing than New Haven, Conn. -- for two reasons.

The city is the hometown of what is sure to be the most talked about case during the hearing, a lawsuit filed by white firefighters who claimed they were denied promotions because of their race. Sotomayor was part of a three-judge federal appeals panel that ruled against the firefighters last year. The Supreme Court reversed that decision last month.

Sotomayor also is a graduate of Yale Law School, and that's located in New Haven.

The New Haven Register has compiled its local coverage of the case, including videos, community reaction and editorials. You can watch and read here: http://nhregister.com/sotomayor/

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Harvard vs. Yale on the high court

Sat Jul 11, 2:45 pm ET

If confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor would help Yale Law School draw close to even with arch-rival Harvard in a two-horse race for Supreme Court bragging rights.

When Chief Justice John Roberts was confirmed in 2005, it looked like the Supreme Court might be trading in its black robes for Crimson. It was the first time five graduates of one law school served simultaneously. A sixth, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, attended Harvard Law but graduated from Columbia.

But with the appointment of Yale Law grad Samuel Alito, and Sotomayor in line to replace Harvard Law grad David Souter, the score could fall back to Harvard 4 (Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Breyer), Yale 3 (Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor). Justice John Paul Stevens attended Northwestern Law School.

All-time, Harvard leads with 14 graduates who have served, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter. Sotomayor would be No. 9 for Yale (which has a smaller student body). Until the early 20th century, most justices did not formally study law.

The court's heavy load of graduates from elite law schools has worried some, who think it creates a group-think (though conservative Scalia and liberal Breyer both attended Harvard). They'd like to see more graduates of state schools or even people with non-legal backgrounds. There's no requirement a Supreme Court justice have a law degree.

-Justin Pope, AP Education Writer

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How many senators did their homework?

Fri Jul 10, 8:00 pm ET

"There's already been a lot said about Judge Sotomayor. I think we need to hold our fire until we examine all of these opinions and writings," Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., said recently.

Sotomayor obliged Kyl and other Republican skeptics by flooding Judiciary Committee members with some 5,000 pages in response to their questions.

If you're from a state with a Judiciary Committee senator, you might want to e-mail the office with this question: How many of those 5,000 pages has the senator read?

For instance, you can contact Kyl here.
You can find the address for your senator here.

-Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress

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Sonia Sotomayor, The Movie?

Fri Jul 10, 7:53 pm ET

If anyone wants to make a biopic of Sonia Sotomayor, Rosie Perez is ready for her audition.

“Oh my God, I'd be so honored," the actress and choreographer told the New York Daily News. Like Sotomayor, Perez is a New Yorker born to Puerto Rican parents. But the similarities ended as they chose career paths. Sotomayor never danced on “Soul Train.”

Read the full story here.

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Ouch! The nominee's pre-game injury

Fri Jul 10, 7:26 pm ET

Sotomayor very well may be the first Supreme Court nominee ever to hobble into a Senate hearing room sporting a certain type of footwear -- the not-so-fashionable, not-by-choice kind.

It's a cast on her right ankle.

She's expected to arrive on crutches Monday, and then sit at the witness table with her injured leg propped up on a chair.

Typically, nominees stand up to stretch or leave the room when the committee takes breaks.

But Sotomayor isn't expected to be move much because of her injury -- and that could make for very long days.

She tripped last month while rushing for a plane in New York, and suffered a small fracture.
 
The burning question: whose signatures adorn the cast?

None, it turns out.

An aide reports that it's a soft cast -- the kind that can't be scrawled on.

-Liz Sidoti, AP reporter, Politics

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

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You ask, we answer

Fri Jul 10, 7:00 pm ET

Pose your own questions to AP reporters and their sources by following @AP_Courtside. Here's what you've asked so far:


Q: From @Pdad
@AP_Courtside What will Nominee Sotomayor say about allowing cameras into Supreme Court Oral Arguments?

A: @PDad AP's Julie Hirschfeld Davis says @SenArlenSpecter will likely ask #Sotomayor about the cameras issue. No word yet on what she will say

@PDad AP's Laurie Kellman adds that @ChuckGrassley asked Samuel Alito & John Roberts about cameras. It's possible he'll ask #Sotomayor, too.

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Q: From @bschwartz
@AP_Courtside some people want #sotomayor to be a diabetes awareness advo but justices aren't supposed to be advos. How does she mesh that?

A: AP's Liz Sidoti says whether Sotomayor wants to or not, she'll be an advocate simply by being known as a justice who has diabetes

===

Q: From @B4ADavid
@AP_Courtside Given the fed suit filed by MA (re: DOMA) this wk, should it go b4 SCOTUS, do we have an indication how Sotomayor would vote?

A: Hard to know whether the DOMA case will make it to SCOTUS, how Sotomayor would vote. Nominees keep their cards close to the vest.

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From @AP_Courtside
Odd #SupremeCourt fact: Former chief justice John Marshall's bladder stones are on display at the Mutter Museum in Pa.

Q: From @beadinglady
@AP_Courtside Is that like KIDNEY stones? Just asking..

A: Here's the definition from MayoClinic.com

-Lauren McCullough, AP social networks and special projects producer

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You've been briefed

Fri Jul 10, 6:45 pm ET

Voting on Sotomayor's fitness for the Supreme Court?

The White House recommends "Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Nominee for The United States Supreme Court -- Briefing Materials for the Confirmation Hearings."

The 129-page manual, distributed to every senator, highlights what the White House believes are Sotomayor's most important rulings.

Not chosen as one of her "Ten Most Significant Rulings:" Ricci v. DiStefano.

It's the ruling endorsed by Sotomayor and overturned by the Supreme Court last month -- and it's easily the most talked-about case of her record.

New Haven, Conn., scrapped test results intended to determine promotions for firefighters after the black firefighters who took the exam did not score high enough to qualify. The 5-4 high court ruling supported the reverse discrimination claims by white firefighters.

Elsewhere in the briefing book, the White House instead highlighted three race discrimination in employment cases that conservatives might like better.

In them, Sotomayor ruled against African American plaintiffs.

-Laurie Kellman, AP reporter, Congress

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Puerto Rico for Dummies

Fri Jul 10, 6:03 pm ET

Sonia Sotomayor’s parents came from a small, Spanish-speaking island east of Florida, famous for its turquoise Caribbean waters, sandy beaches, and a sometimes testy relationship with Washington.

No, not THAT island. "The Island of Enchantment," aka the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The U.S. won the island from Spain in the Spanish-American War, and Puerto Ricans became citizens in 1917, just in time for the World War I draft. The island became a commonwealth in 1952, earning its people the right to self-govern.

Like Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and that  inside-the-beltway island known as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico gets only one nonvoting member in the House of Representatives and zilch in the Senate. Its residents can vote in U.S. presidential primaries, but not the general election.

Its roughly 4 million inhabitants remain divided over their status. A small minority still hopes for independence. The rest are split between enjoying the tax-exempt status they get as an independent territory and wanting to become the 51st state.

-Laura Wides-Munoz, AP’s Miami-based Hispanic Affairs Writer

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SAY WHAT? A glossary guide, Take One

Fri Jul 10, 5:37 pm ET

Senators tend to sound like, well, wonks. So, we're trying to turn Senate-speak into everyday language. Here are some terms that both Republicans and Democrats have used -- and our take on what they really mean.

ACTIVIST JUDGE: In theory: a judge who doesn't just read and interpret the law, but who is willing to stake out new ground in terms of what the law should be. In reality: "a judge who makes decisions you don't like," says Julian Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University. Code words often used by conservatives to attack liberals.

RESTRAINED JUDGE: Opposite of above.

MODEST JUDGE: One who buries his/her personal opinions and political philosophies when trying to interpret the law. "In an ideal world, modest judges would read what the law is, and almost mathematically reach a decision while extracting themselves from the process," says Zelizer. Sotomayor's supporters have repeatedly been calling her "judicially modest."

-Nancy Benac, AP reporter, White House

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In the hearing room -- what to expect

Fri Jul 10, 5:37 pm ET

AP reporters will be stationed in the Senate room where Sotomayor's confirmation hearing will take place. Have a question for them? Send it to us on Twitter @AP_Courtside. In the meantime, they answered this one: What are you most interested in seeing or hearing next week?

Larry Margasak: "How hard the Republicans go after (Sotomayor), given their perilous standing with Hispanics. Whether they'll stick to criticism using a few 'safe' Republican themes: abortion, guns, reverse discrimination."

Jesse J. Holland: "How she parries GOP questions on abortion, gun rights, etc., because it'll show how well she prepared."

Laurie Kellman: "Getting to know Sotomayor, because these hearings tend to be the most we learn about justices until they write books and/or retire."

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Confirmation hearings: the drinking game

Fri Jul 10, 5:26 pm ET

The rules: Every time a Senate Judiciary Committee member self-promotes, take a swig. But water down those cocktails if you want to make it through the first day.

Senators like nothing more than talking -- often about themselves, not always subtly. And preferably, on camera.

Definition of "self-promote": self-serving rhetoric of any past, present or future endeavor that voters back home might like to hear.

Example: Don't be surprised to hear long-timers like Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., harken back to the good old days, "when I was chairman." Listen for name-dropping, favorite recollections of a moment of legislative glory and frequent invocation of a senator's home state.

To illustrate: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., executed a sip-worthy line in
1993 during Ruth Bader Ginsberg's hearing. His first statement after "Thank you, Mr. Chairman" and "Judge, I welcome you and your family," was an aside about how Ginsberg got the call from the Clinton White House when she was in -- wait for it -- Vermont!

(Drink!)

Muttered then-chairman Joe Biden: "I wondered how you were going to get Vermont into this."

-Laurie Kellman, AP reporter, Congress

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Let the show begin

Fri Jul 10, 4:46 pm ET

AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, a veteran political writer, and Donna Cassata, AP Washington news editor and long-time political editor, give their take on what next week's Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings to be a Supreme Court justice are all about:

                                                                  
SPOILER ALERT: Sonia Sotomayor gets confirmed.

Barring an unforeseen scandal or surprise, the high political drama that is a Supreme Court confirmation hearing will push the New York City native further down the road toward donning the black robes of a Supreme Court justice.

So why bother? Well, there are many actors involved, many scripts and many motives that require this show to go on.

Let's look at the cast:

THE REPUBLICANS: GOP senators know they're going to lose, but they hope to set a benchmark for future confirmation hearings. Their message: We're not going to roll over. This may not be President Barack Obama's only chance to fill a vacant seat. The next justice to depart could be one of the conservatives, whose replacement could dramatically shift the ideological tilt the court. Sotomayor, on the other hand, would replace Justice David Souter -- a liberal for a liberal.

THE DEMOCRATS: They are bracing for the next fight, too. Democratic senators want to prove to party activists, particularly the online variety, that they are liberal and tough enough to deserve backing.
Democrats also need to show their new president that they're in his corner.

THE INTEREST GROUPS: It's all about the money. Win or lose, Republican and Democratic lobbying shops reach into their supporters pockets at a time like this, when their causes seem the most relevant.

THE MEDIA: Journalists love conflict, and there will be plenty of that.

On with the show.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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The Supreme Court and You

Thu Jul 9, 10:46 am ET

Don't just watch the hearing — get your own backstage pass. Tune in to Yahoo! News beginning Monday morning to join Associated Press reporters inside the hearing room where senators will consider whether Sonia Sotomayor will be the next associate justice of the Supreme Court.

AP journalists will be blogging continuously from the hearing and offering insight, context and perspective from around the world on the issues facing the court and the Senate Judiciary Committee. You’ll also find a doorway to some of the most authoritative coverage from major newspapers.

Want to pose your own questions to reporters and their sources? Follow AP_Courtside on Twitter and make your voice heard.