Greenfield on Day Two of Sotomayor Hearings

Topics: Sonia Sotomayor

CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield shared his thoughts on day two of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings on Tuesday's "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric";

Couric: Jeff, day two. Where do you think things stand for the judge right now?

Greenfield: I think the conservatives on the panel have made the case to their base and their supporters that this is someone who brings identity politics into the law where it doesn't belong. That she puts her gender, her ethnicity front and center. We've heard that in the speeches. We saw Lindsey Graham of South Carolina very pointedly and conversationally saying to her, "If I'd said such things about the superiority of a Caucasian made, I'd have had my head handed to me." So they laid out the reasons why conservatives would not be happy with a Sotomayor confirmation.

Couric: And be comfortable not voting for her, possibly?

Greenfield: Yes.

Couric: Having said that, as the aforementioned Sen. Graham said yesterday, unless she has a complete meltdown, she'll be confirmed. Do you still think that's the case?

Greenfield: I think so. I think key here is they were not able to find – except for the Ricci case – a smoking gun in her decisions. An appeals court in California once said "under God" had to be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance. If she had written that, which she didn't, that would be a smoking gun. So is she going to get the kind of votes Justice Roberts did when half the democrats voted for him? Is it going to be more like Samuel Alito when 42 of the 46 democrats voted against him? I don't think we know yet. I think the hands of Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham lies whether or not all of republicans are going to be moving against her or not. We don't know where they stand yet.

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