The two Sotomayors

Byron York:

Sonia Sotomayor's opening statement at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing was, to many ears, brief and boilerplate. But to Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans listening intently just a few feet away, Sotomayor drew a map for the questioning they hope will expose the fundamental flaws in her judicial views.

The theme Republicans will stress is this: Which is the real Sonia Sotomayor? The one testifying before the committee or the one who's been giving speeches and writing legal opinions for nearly two decades?

"If you look at her opening statement, there are places where she is attempting, on the eve of her confirmation, to do a 180 on things she has said over the years," says one senior Republican aide. "Should we believe what she's said repeatedly in the past -- long before she was nominated to the court -- or should we believe what she said on the opening day of her confirmation hearing?"

For example, Sotomayor told the committee that, "My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, GOP aides were checking back to a speech Sotomayor made at Seton Hall School of Law in October 2003. "My experiences will affect the facts I choose to see as a judge," Sotomayor said back then. "Our experiences as woman and people of color will in some way affect our decisions." That's a far different Sotomayor from the nominee who appeared on Monday.

Sotomayor also told the committee that her judicial philosophy is simple: "fidelity to the law." "The task of a judge is not to make the law," she said, "it is to apply the law."

As she spoke, Republicans re-read her speech at Duke University Law School in 2005 when she said the federal courts of appeals are "where policy is made." Acknowledging that she was speaking more candidly than judges usually do, she added, "I know this is on tape. And I should never say that because we don't make law, I know." Her words drew laughter, because everyone knew she was plainly saying that she does, in fact, make law. Again, the Sotomayor at Duke was quite different from the Sotomayor who appeared on Monday.

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The wise Latina speaks with forked tongue. When you see a video of her statement to the committee followed by her statements to the contrary the difference is pretty striking. Fox News has shown them, but I suspect it did not make it into the news cast of other organizations where the staff was back into full leg tingle mode.