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The Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are expected to wrap up Thursday with a full vote early next month. There was a "Perry Mason" moment at the hearings today.

"I was a big fan of 'Perry Mason,'" said Al Franken, the junior senator from Minnesota who took office only last week.

Apparently neither one of them would do very well on a "Perry Mason" trivia quiz.

"What was the one case in 'Perry Mason' that [Hamilton] Burger [the district attorney] won?" Franken asked.

"I wish I remembered the name of the episode, but I don't," Sotomayor said. "I just was always struck that there was only one case where his client was actually guilty."

"And you don't remember that case?" Franken asked.

"I know that I should remember the name of it, but I haven't looked at the episode," Sotomayor said.

"Didn't the White House prepare you for that?" Franken asked laughing.

Senator Franken didn't know either – but CBS News looked it up – it was the "Case of the Deadly Verdict."


Watch the exchange below.


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The start of Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings today marked an opportunity for Democrats to defend President Obama's nomination and Republicans to attack the nomination based on information that has been released so far.

On today's episode of Washington Unplugged, CBS News political consultant John Dickerson sat down with a group political analysts to discuss the first day of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings.

While Democrats focused solely on her judicial records, Republicans have been highlighting speeches and instances from her life.

CBS Supreme Court correspondent Wyatt Andrews said that the GOP's focus on speeches shows that the Republicans "don't have the ammunition" to fight her judicial records. Additionally, he noted that a lot of Republicans have actually praised her and some are likely to vote in her favor.

Stuart Taylor, a senior writer at National Journal, notes that, while Andrews' argument echoes Democratic sentiment, Republicans are nevertheless continuing this tactic, asking "what will happen when nobody's in charge but her?"

The group also addressed Sotomayor's ability to empathize, her "wise latina" comment, and the probability of her confirmation. CBS News' Nancy Cordes also discussed the CIA controversy circulating around former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Joining Dickenson were Taylor, Andrews, CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, Republican Lawyers Association representative Cleta Mitchell, and Legal Director of the Alliance for Justice Bill Yeomans. You can watch the full espisode above.

The opening remarks of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee at Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination hearing this morning were interrupted by an anti-abortion protester who called abortion "genocide."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein was speaking Monday morning when the protester shouted out, "Senator, what about the unborn?"

Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy quickly slammed down the gavel and called for order.

"You are guests of the Senate while you are here," he said. "Everybody is a guest of the Senate. Judge Sotomayor deserves the respect of being heard." Leahy called for police to remove the protester from the chamber, and they did so.

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Moot courts are a common exercise for judges and lawyers. But in recent days, Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor took part in moot confirmation hearings.

As part of her preparations for this week’s trial-by-Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor faced questions from members of the White House Counsel’s office.

A White House official tells CBS News the practice sessions helped Sotomayor to review and defend her 17 years of rulings from the federal bench. The questions ranged from First Amendment issues to matters of criminal and immigration law.

It goes without saying, that the judge has also rehearsed answers to questions she is certain to face about her controversial statement that a “wise Latina” would often reach a better conclusion than a white male. The White House has said the comment was nothing more than a poor choice of words.

Sotomayor is also known to be ready to defend her ruling as part of a three-judge panel rejecting reverse discrimination claims of white firefighters in New Haven, CT.

The mock hearings are a familiar technique used by White Houses of the past to prepare it’s nominees to the high court for the kind of tough, pointed and even disrespectful questions they may face. They are the kinds of questions a federal judge would never face on the bench.

Sotomayor has been through the Senate confirmation process twice before, as a nominee for judgeships on the federal District and Appeals Courts. But nothing can really prepare a nominee for the political and judicial heat he or she can face when up for a lifetime position on the Supreme Court.

Remember the questioning of a sexual nature faced by nominee Judge Clarence Thomas in 1991, who memorably denounced his confirmation hearings as “a circus,” “a national disgrace” and “a high-tech lynching?”

Pres. Obama telephoned his nominee yesterday to wish her good luck in this week’s hearings. The White House says he complimented her for making courtesy calls on 89 Senators in which he is quoted as saying she discussed her “adherence to the rule of law throughout her 17 years on the federal bench.”

Few things are as big a political blow to a President as to have his nominee to the Supreme Court fail to be confirmed. Mr. Obama told Sotomayor yesterday he is confident that won’t happen to her.

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Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

As Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings edge closer, many are raising their voices both for and against the Supreme Court nominee.

In a press conference Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy stated that Sotomayor would "unquestionably" maintain a balanced view on criminal cases.

"Judge Sotomayor’s criminal justice record proves that she is a moderate judge, whose decisions in criminal cases rarely differ from those of her colleagues on the Federal bench," Leahy said.

Alongside Leahy, many law enforcement groups also spoke out in favor of the judge. Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association President Jon Adler said Tuesday that he believes that the nominee will "be loyal to the rule of law" and that she has "the requisite intellect, experience and character" necessary to fulfill her duty.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Tuesday that Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing will begin July 13, and Republicans are none too happy about it.

The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, said today that the date is too early and does not give Republicans enough time to examine Sotomayor's record.

"I'm really a bit surprised," Sessions said, according to Politico. "I don't think our side has the time to do this right. ... That's a rushed time frame, and I don't think that's necessary."

As the Associated Press reports, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of threatening Senate cooperation over the nominee by setting an impractical timetable.

"An arbitrary date on this nomination, when we're not clear yet how long it's going to take to work our way through her extensive record ... strikes me as not a good way to proceed," said McConnell.

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The court ruling, only the second ever to be shared with the American people, endorsed the Bush Administration’s expansive view of law enforcement power to spy without prior court approval on international phone calls and emails even when they involve communications between and among Americans. Holder, for his part, pledged to do a “damage assessment” review of this policy and practice on behalf of the Justice Department. The juxtaposition between the two simultaneous events—like two ships crossing in the night—is striking.

Striking and not a little controversial since President-elect Barack Obama endorsed during his time in the U.S. Senate the latest version of the current administration’s surveillance policy. That means that Holder now must gingerly evaluate how the warrantless program came about, whether it is working to its fullest extent, whether and to what extent it reaches too far in infringing constitutional privacy rights, and what can be done if it does.

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Attorney General-designee Eric Holder, Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning what every reasonable person has known for years but which no Bush Administration official this side of Dick Cheney would ever admit: that water-boarding, the simulated-death interrogation tactic, amounts to torture under our laws.

Holder also refused to concede that any U.S. officers or officials who engaged in such practices, or who authorized them, ought to be granted immunity from prosecution for engaging in such odious conduct. The declaration, which drew no immediate response from Committee members, stands in stark contrast to the legal positions (and confirmation candor) offered by Holder’s immediate predecessors at the Justice Department.

Holder then faced sharp questioning over his role in the pardon given to fugitive financier (and Clinton donor) Marc Rich by President Bill Clinton during the final hours of his administration. Holder told the Committee that he had made mistakes in handling the Rich matter—that he would have consulted more with prosecutors and others before signing off on the controversial pardon—but Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the ranking Republican member of the Committee, suggested that it was incredible to think that such a bright and experienced public official as Holder—who even in 2001 had a ton of government experience—would make such an obvious mistake. Expect more on this line of questioning this afternoon when the hearing resumes.

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Speaking softly but clearly from the same spot where the famous Army-McCarthy hearings were held in 1954 – a cavernous, marbled caucus room overflowing with politicians, bureaucrats, reporters and protestors – Eric Holder, Jr., the first African-American ever nominated to be Attorney General of the United States, this morning appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing.

Holder told the Committee that he “cherishes” the Justice Department and will work in the coming years to “restore” its “credibility” and independence, to “reinvigorate” its “traditional missions” of fighting domestic crime, and to “use every available tactic” under the Constitution to defeat terrorists at home and abroad.

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