Calling all women

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., played to all women watching the hearings.

She told Sonia Sotomayor: "We, as women, didn't have the right to vote until 1920. When you graduated from law school, there had never been a women on the Supreme Court." She went on: There only are 17 women senators. Women only make 78 cents on the dollar of what a man makes.
 
Then came the "tough" question. Feinstein asked Sotomayor whether she looks at herself as a role model for the empowerment of women.
 
"What I have accomplished does serve as an inspiration for others," the nominee said. "It's ... an awesome sense of responsibility. Each one of us faces challenges in our lives. We overcome them. For me, I understand my responsibility to reach out to all kinds of groups."
 
In case anyone didn't get the message, Feinstein followed up. She called Sotomayor "a walking, talking example of the best part of the United States of America. You are going to be a great Supreme Court justice."
 
-Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress