TNR's Rosen: 'Of Course' She Should Be Confirmed

After writing a much-discussed article in the New Republic earlier this month raising questions about the qualifications of Sonia Sotomayor, Jeffrey Rosen wants to be clear: "Of course, Judge Sotomayor should be confirmed to the Supreme Court," he blogs. Rosen complains that conservatives have adopted much of the original article, in which anonymous sources question her temperament and intelligence, for anti-Sotomayor talking points.

"This willfully misreads both my piece and the follow-up response," he writes. "My concern was that she might not make the most effective liberal voice on the court—not that she didn't have the potential to be a fine justice." Rosen says her wide experience "might give her the humility to recognize that courts participate in a dialogue with the political branches when it comes to defining constitutional rights, rather than having the last word." (More Sonia Sotomayor stories.)