The second day of the Sotomayor confirmation hearing — the first in which she answered question — revealed relatively little. Judge Sotomayor played defense all day long — delivering cautious, deliberate answers to even the most pointed questions — under the (probably correct) assumption that if she said little of substance, she wouldn't give her opposition any footholds. She may have over done it — offering overly narrow (and sometimes inaccurate) explanations and defenses of her most controversial decisions and backing away from her public remarks to an implausible degree — but it has probably done the trick. I did not see anything today to cast her confirmation in doubt.

I've contributed additional thoughts to the Washington Post's "Topic A" (along with Randy Barnett, Erwin Chemerinsky, and Laurence Tribe).

UPDATE: I also have this essay on NRO discussing the efforts by some Senate Democrats to paint the Roberts Court as a radical right-wing court in their opening statements.