We are not live blogging the Senate confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor today; we’ve already weighed in on what we’ve learned from this process. But we are keeping an eye on the proceedings just in case somebody says something stupid.
Today they are finishing up with the questions from the senators. Then they will move to the witnesses. They are just getting to that now. SCOTUSblog reports that there are 31 people on the witness list. The witness list is surprisingly light on attorneys or judges. But the stars include Frank Ricci (of Ricci v. DeStefano fame), former Mets pitcher David Cone (he played for some other baseball teams too), and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
But before they get into the witnesses, let’s check out the highlights from the Senate’s last round of questions.
More after the jump.

As he did on Tuesday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl was the most aggressive questioner of the morning. But this time he was more on-point from a legal perspective. He hammered Sotomayor about the Ricci case, and her explanation that she was “bound” by precedent on the matter. For some reason, Sotomayor didn’t want to admit that there was an issue to be judged; instead, she tried to convey the impression that she had no choice. Kyl essentially suggested the case was one of first impression. But he was right to be unsatisfied with Sotomayor’s implication that she had no choice.
Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn continued this ridiculous suggestion that Sotomayor will use “foreign law” to overthrow the American system of government. Sotomayor (again) tried to explain that as a judge she can read whatever she wants if it helps clarify her thinking on a subject. Foreign law has no precedential value, and it is of course not binding on any U.S. court. I think deep down Coburn knows this. But I guess Coburn’s Oklahoman constituents are terrified that they’ll be governed by German law or something. I don’t understand it, Germans gave us the ShamWow, and I’m positive Coburn’s constituents love that.
But the biggest news was made by Lindsey Graham. He acknowledged that Sotomayor wasn’t a crazy, Bill Ayers loving radical. Instead he said that her views were “generally mainstream.”
The Democrats asked a few questions too. But they didn’t use all of their time, and they certainly didn’t say anything particularly interesting. Instead, they sat back and looked like they were wondering about the long term health of current SCOTUS Justices.
The witness testimony is underway. If anything interesting pops up — say, Frank Ricci saving the entire Senate Judiciary Committee from a flash fire — we’ll keep you posted.
Live Blog of Judge Sotomayor’s Confirmation Hearings-Day 4 [SCOTUSblog]
Sotomayor’s rulings ‘generally in mainstream,’ Republican says [CNN]
Sotomayor won’t be judged by a jury of her peers [True/Slant]
The Sotomayor Hearings: A Waste of Time? [NYT: Room for Debate]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings