COVERITLIVE.COM

9:12

Post Editor - Thanks for joining us for the Post's live coverage of the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor. We'll begin our live streaming video of the event at 10 a.m. ET -- the video player will appear to the left of this module.

Post legal reporter Jerry Markon and congressional reporter Ben Pershing will be your guides through the week, offering analysis and insight into what is said (and what is meant).

We'll provide background and context and give it users all in one place. We also will be fielding questions and comments throughout the day.

Things will likely begin in an hour, so posting will be light until then.

In the meantime, check out Opening Arguments, the Post blog focusing on the Supreme Court, as well as all of our coverage of the Court and Sonia Sotomayor.

9:39	Post Editor - The Fix gives you Five Senators to Watch this week. Short Version: Franken, Graham, Specter, Sessions, Whitehouse.

9:49	Ben Pershing - From Robert Barnes in the hearing room: The Sotomayor family -- her mother, stepfather, brother and other relatives -- took their places in the front row a full thirty minutes before the scheduled 10 a.m. start, and are the subject of intense interest from photographers

9:56	[Comment From Jasmine] How many days of hearings can we expect?

9:57	Jerry Markon - Hi, thanks for your question. The hearings will definitely run from today through Thursday, and then possibly into Friday if the Judiciary Committee chooses to extend them.

10:03

[Comment From Kevin J. Carlin]
How many Princeton grads are on the Court and how many Catholics?

10:03

Ben Pershing - If Sotomayor is confirmed, she will be the sixth Catholic and only Princeton grad on the court. (CORRECTION: Samuel Alito also went to Princeton. Apologies, and thanks to commenter "David")

10:05

Jerry Markon - Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic Judiciary Committee Chair, is making his opening statement and is emphasizing Sotomayor's life story and broad legal experience -- key themes of her supporters ever since President Obama nominated her.

10:13

Ben Pershing - Parochialism Alert: Vermont Sen. Leahy just pointed out that the phrase "Equal Justice Under Law" is engraved over the Supreme Court entrance in VERMONT marble.

10:13

Jerry Markon - Leahy is portraying Sotomayor as a moderate and referred to her "tough record" in criminal cases, as the White House has. I did an extensive analysis of her record for the Post, based on all 46 of her "split decisions" -- cases in which there was a dissent. Experts say these provide the best window into a judge's ideology and are mot similiar to cases heard by the Supreme Court. The analysis found that comparing Sotomayor's votes to other Democratic appointed appellate judges showed that they actually came out slightly more liberal than the norm -- though clearly within the mainstream of Democratic appointees.

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