Senator Kohl asked Sotomayor what Justice she most admires, she chose:

[usregimechange]

Justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo

Who was:

"Cardozo was a member of the Three Musketeers along with Brandeis and Stone, which was considered to be the liberal faction of the Supreme Court."

The "Three Musketeers" was the nickname given to three liberal members during the 1932-1937 terms of the United States Supreme Court, who generally supported the New Deal agenda of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They were Justices Louis Brandeis, Benjamin N. Cardozo, and Harlan Fiske Stone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_N._Cardozo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Musketeers_(Supreme_Court)

[Mojambo]

1. Niiiice. n/t

[usregimechange]

2. Ironically he was nominated by Hoover

[depakid]

3. That's because he was one of the most respected jurists of his time

[Cha]

6. And, Hoover was thinking

what? I remember this SC Judge Cardoza when we were talking about other possible Latina Judges.

How sweet she chose him..that ought to ruffle their ugly bleached feathers.

[autorank]

4. #5 here. Great choice. Wonder if 1/2 of them ever heard of Cardozo?

:)

[usregimechange]

5. Well, I had to look him up and I am clearly smarter and more educated than, well most of the GOP

Senators. Though that isn't saying much.

[cali]

8. I didn't have to look up Cardoza and I recognize that I'm neither smarter

nor more educated than most of the Senators on the JC. I'm not smarter than Leahy or Whitehouse or Feingold or Franken or more educated than most of them.

[usregimechange]

10. What about Sessions?

[autorank]

16. He's so dumb he forgot that HE is a racist.

re: His nomination hearings before becoming a Senator. I mean, seriously, how smart do you have to be in his
position to say, 'Better keep quiet on this one, I'm exposed.' Apparently it was to high a hurdle;)

[Avalux]

7. Awesome. I REALLY like her. She held her own today and made the Pukes look like idiots.

I think she's a great choice and so happy she's a woman, lol.

[sam sarrha]

9. cute.. she really knows how to piss em off

[usregimechange]

14. But not too much, she could have chose Ginsburg

[autorank]

17. That's what I thought and she's fully justified in picking him.

Little bit of the Bronx wit. She's tougher than any of them and she is self made. Lots of hard work in her
background.

[DisgustedTX]

11. Stay thirsty my friends.

:-(

[provis99]

12. so Sotomayor isn't the first Hispanic SC judge?

well thats a surprise. Also surprised to read that a Hispanic Jew would have been appointed by Herbert Hoover, of all people. Looks like he might've been gay, too.

[usregimechange]

13. Souter surprise?

[usregimechange]

15. AP has it as a headline now:

Sotomayor passes on chance to rate justices

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Given a chance to say Tuesday which current Supreme Court justice or justices she most admires, Sonia Sotomayor took a pass.

Answering a question from Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, the 55-year-old Sotomayor declared: "To suggest that I admire one of the sitting Supreme Court justices would suggest that I think of myself as a clone of one of the judges. I don't."

But Sotomayor also volunteered a justice from the path whom she reveres. She praised Justice Benjamin Cardoza, saying that she admired how he carried himself on the bench. She said he respected precedents and the powers of Congress. Sotomayor said if she cited any current member of the bench as a mentor figure, it could be construed that she disagreed with someone else.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOTOMAYOR_MENTORS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[senseandsensibility]

18. I find this encouraging.

She is such an impressive person in her own right, however.